Human Order of Guardians Arc One
by TheShapeshifter100
Summary: Before the Guardians were Guardians, they were people, with friends and families. As they became who they are today one question remains. What happened to those families? Well, why don't you come and find out? If you thought that the Guardians were the only ones fighting... Think again.
1. Prologue

There are many stories in this world, some new, some old. Many are ingrained into the public consciousness, others you have to dig to find.

From the supernatural stories of vampires and werewolves that stalk the night, to the Bogeyman and the Monster under the Bed and the Big Bad wolf.

From stories of outlaws in woods to winter spirits to the gods of old. Mankind has always had a thirst for the unknown and make believe.

Tales of heroes battling the odds against monsters the size of skyscrapers or as large as the ocean is deep.

There are other tales; tales of those just trying to survive in this strange and marvellous world of ours. Those with powers are not always the heroes of legend, but they could be considered heroes in their own right.

There are of course heroes with no powers, which in many ways make them more heroic, but sometimes a storyteller wants that hint of the extraordinary.

For it is nature for us to imagine things greater than ourselves.

Such stories are never truly happy, as stories rarely are, but the objective of these stories to find that happy ending. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but rest assured that either way it is the storyteller's intention.

But what if I were to tell you that the stories were real?

They've been chopped and changed, parts gained and parts lost to the depths of time, but the fact remains.

These characters are real.

How many are real? Who knows, but I can tell you this, the stories you've been told from childhood. Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, The Sandman, Jack Frost and the Bogeyman. Those are definitely real.

They were people, people with families and friends, but when they ascended to the titles they hold now, what happened to those families?

They carry their legacy.

They are the Descendants, and this is the story of one of their newest to realise their heritage.

Because, if you though that the Guardians were the only ones fighting.

Think again.


	2. Chapter 1

**Before we start I'd like to thank MysteriousSherlock for following and favouriting, given how much I love your work, that does mean a lot to me.**

The crunch of snow seemed to echo through the deserted forest. It had survived for centuries, to my relief, I wouldn't have anywhere to practice otherwise.

I wasn't wearing as much as a normal person would at this time of year, but the cold didn't bother me really. I only wore enough to stop people freaking out. Most would be in three layers with ear muffs and a hat; I had a coat zipped all the way up, jeans and a pair of trainers. 

A small smile spread across my face as I reached the frozen lake. It was surrounded by trees on all sides and a wall of rocks dominated the opposite side. This place held many horrors, both old and recent, but it was still a tranquil place, a perfect place for practice. 

I walked up to the lake. The ice was probably too thin to support someone's weight, but that didn't stop me placing a confident foot on its surface, then the other.  
The ice creaked beneath my feet, groaning from my weight and threatening to crack. 

Without needing to think ice spread from my feet and deep into the water, freezing it solid. 

I walked to the centre of the lake and raised my arms. Snow and icicles on either side quivered in response. I lowered them, which let the snow and ice drop before raising them again, triggering a more powerful response. 

This repeated several times until the icicles had pulled themselves 180 degrees and the snow hung six feet off the ground. 

I quickly began moving my arms in a well practiced fashion, almost in the manner of conducting an orchestra during an incredibly fast paced song. Around me the icicles detached themselves from the branches and began spiralling around me, quickly picking up speed. The snow joined the icicles and flurries flung themselves around at my command, to the point where I couldn't see beyond the snow. 

The wind conjured by my movement of the snow and ice whipped around me, sending my long, dark brown hair flying in several directions, but never into the path of the flying snow and ice.

In one fluid movement the snow and ice were shoved to the sides. My arms were held outstretched as my breath clouded the air in front of me. 

I flung my arms forward, sending the snow and ice flying. My arms moved quickly again, but not quite as frenzied. This time it was softer, more controlled movements. In a few minutes the snow had formed into tightly packed snowmen, snow forts and snow balls. 

The icicles had joined with the snowmen to form noses and limbs, and some cases formed headwear. 

My arms fell down by my sides as I stared at what I created. They were pretty good, but my practice wasn't over yet. 

I let out long controlled breath and let a ball of ice form in the water vapour. I let it hang in the air, then began moving it without using my arms. 

It wasn't easy, I could only get it to move a few inches in a given direction, but it was a start. 

I let it become water vapour again and took a deep breath. I held out my arm and stared at the space above the palm, holding a picture of something in my head. 

With encouragement from the movements of my other hand, ice began to form above my hand.  
It grew upwards, thinning in some places and expanding in others. With one big expansion at the top, it was done. 

An ice flower floated above my hand, a tulip to be precise. 

I took hold of the icy stem with one hand, walked over to a small part of the lakeside and knelt down. I gently lowered the ice tulip into the snow, making sure the snow packed itself tightly around the fragile stem so that it would stand. Throughout these actions my fingers never felt the chill of the ice. 

I let go of my control over the snow and stepped back. 

It held well, although seemed to be a lonely figure, but it suited. 

I rubbed my eyes beneath my glasses, certain that I could feel my eyes burning with tears. 

"Ice cold powers, Ice cold heart" 

I did my best to try not to feel too much. The last time my emotions had gotten out of control, well, it didn't end well. 

Breathing calmly I pulled my hand back and began walking away from the lake, but the evidence of my practice remaining, but not many people came here, so it didn't really matter. Even if they did, it didn't mean anything. 

The next day was another cold one apparently; however it was the Christmas holidays so I didn't have to face the day yet. 

Or so I thought. 

"Jackie!" called my mum up the stairs. 

"Yes?" I called back, slightly more awake. 

"Will you come downstairs please? We need to go Christmas shopping!" 

I groaned; I really didn't want to go. 

"Come on, otherwise Santa might skimp on the presents." 

I hadn't believed in Santa Claus since I was seven, my mum knows this, but still pulls this thing every year. 

"Alright, I'm coming!" 

I kept my head down as I wandered through the shops, trying to find something for my parents. I didn't have much in the way of spending money, so I had to improvise. 

With presents more or less decided and stored in my backpack I checked the time. I still had an hour until I had to meet mum, so I just wandered. 

I edged my way against the crowd, a larger crowd than I had expected, past eager shoppers and into an empty space between two shops. 

The large crowd had put me on edge, so I took deep breaths to calm myself. It couldn't happen here, not now. 

I didn't like human contact. Due to my power my body temperature was lower than normal person. So someone just brushing against me was uncomfortably warm, not painful, just uncomfortable. 

There was tickle in my nose, causing me to sneeze loudly. At the same time I sneezed there was a crashing noise behind me. 

I spun around to see a settling dustbin lid rattling behind me. 

"Hello?" 

There wasn't an answer. 

I didn't think it was a good idea, but at the same time I had an hour to kill, so I decided to go further. 

As I walked along, I heard voices. 

"Stupid sand, why do people have to sneeze at you?" 

"Calm down Sally, you know freaking makes it worse." 

"I am calm! It's just annoying that people always sneeze." 

"Well at least you don't moult!" 

There was soft laughter in response. 

Sand? Moulting? 

Either these people were crazy or... 

Crazy was all could really think of. 

Against my better judgement I crept forward as the voices retreated. I came across a doorway where the voices were coming from. 

I adjusted the bag straps I walked in. As I took a step I heard a crackling sound from beneath me. Looking down I could see ice forming around my feet. 

I was afraid. 

Taking long, calming breaths and mentally chanting my little mantra allowed the ice to retreat, but it could come back if I wasn't careful. That shouldn't have happened, must have been the unusual situation. 

I walked further in, following the voices. 

It was dim, but the light grew as I got closer to the voices. The voices and the light reached its peak when I reached a pair of closed doors, the windows of which were blocked off by curtains. 

The door was slightly ajar, so I could hear the voices fairly clearly. 

Having decided that this was enough I made to leave when someone called for silence, causing me to freeze in place. 

"Alright, alright, calm down. The meeting for HOG is now in progress." 

A feminine voice that I'd heard earlier spoke up. 

"Do we have to call it HOG? It sounds stupid, can't we just say-?" 

"You know why we shorten it Tina, we've had this discussion before." The voice that spoke first said. I got the impression this was a large, gruff man. 

"Ya gotta admit it's a little funny." asked someone with a thick Australian accent. 

Tina seemed to huff and settled down. 

"Okay, so, how's the search going?" asked the gruff voice. 

This brought groans from everyone else. 

"Are you serious? It's the same answer as always!" cried the Australian. 

"No luck." Chimed Tina and the other voice I'd originally heard. 

The gruff voice sighed. "I must admit I've had no luck either." 

"See!" cried the Australian, "even Nigel can't find them! It would be better if we just moved on to find them." 

"Not yet." Chimed the one I'll nickname Sneezy. "They'll probably really good at hiding it. You understand Tina. The care you took to hide them?" 

Tina sighed. "Yes, but power's like that... What about you Nigel? Do you feel that they're here?" 

"Hmmm." Went the gruff voice. "I think they are." 

The Australian groaned. "Oh come on! How many times have we searched the city? We should have found them by now!" 

"Then we need to step it up." Replied Nigel. "There are a lot of people in Burgess, we can't have encountered them all yet." 

I managed to bring myself back to reality. I didn't know what these guys wanted, but I doubted that it would be good for them to find me out here. 

I stood fully upright and turned, not noticing the large patch of ice I had formed beneath my feet. 

"Aaahhhh!" 

I yelled as I slipped on the ice and fell backwards. My hand reached for the door, but failed to grab it, knocking it open instead. 

I crashed to the floor on my back and looked into the now upside down room. Inside it were four people, three sitting, one standing. 

The standing man was dressed in rather festive colours and large. As in tall and very sturdily built, with a thin white beard and busy eyebrows. 

I could easily pick out the Australian man, as he had tanned skin and seemed to be quite lithe as well as incredibly tall. His hair was dark blonde but his eyes seemed to be a dark brown. 

The two women were very different from each other. One was tall and slim with black hair and the other was short with blonde, almost gold coloured hair. 

The five of us stared for a few seconds before the dark haired woman got out of her seat and went towards me. 

I scrambled to my feet and ran for it. 

"Come back here!" I heard her screech. 

Looking over my shoulder I saw her slip on my ice, but quickly recovered herself by leaning against the wall. 

What I saw next would stay with me forever. 

From her back sprung a pair of clear, insect like wings and a humming sound filled the air as she rose into the air and shot forward. 

I shook myself out of my shock and kept running, but the humming got louder as she easily caught up. 

In my panic ice was forming beneath my feet, so I decided to use it to my advantage. 

I jumped and allowed it to wrap around my feet. The bottom quickly formed into a sharp blade, excellent for ice skating. 

I landed and set off faster than I could run. 

Now I had to consciously control the ice so it would form in front of me instead of beneath. I had to keep my hand in front of me to guide it, but as I sorted that I came across another problem. 

I had no idea where I was going. 

I had been following my ears on the way in, and I couldn't use the same method to get out, so all I could do was cross my fingers and hope that I was going in the right direction. What didn't help was that as I got further away from the meeting room, the darker it got. 

The humming seemed to stay at the same volume, so it meant that I wasn't going to get caught any time soon. 

A T junction corridor came up and I decided to go left at the last minute. I heard a loud crash in the gloom as my pursuer crashed into the wall. 

I looked behind me to see her get up quickly and resume the chase, her face hidden in the gloom, but likely in a scowl. 

That's when my ice stopped following the floor. 

I rammed into the wall and cried out as pain exploded in my face and my hand was almost crushed between my body and the wall. There was an almost sickening crack as my glasses collided with the wall and snapped. 

Before I could do anything a hand grabbed my shoulder and a panting voice said. 

"Got you."


	3. Chapter 2

**Mysterious Sherlock-I'm sure you'll do just fine, and thank you. Hope your exams are going well, if I remember correctly this is the final stretch.**

I got marched back to the main room with my head tilted back and fingers pinching my nose. My glasses were balanced on my nose, held in place by the same hand as my other hand was limp by my side. I doubted that it was badly injured, but it still hurt.

I had decided that there wasn't much point in trying to get away, the insect wing woman had my bag, and I didn't have the money for a second set of presents. 

As we walked through the doors, the last thing I expected was applause. 

The Australian man was jumping out of his seat and whooping, whilst Nigel and Sneezey were more reserved, with broad grins and enthusiastic clapping. 

"Wha da 'eck?" I asked through my pinched nose. 

The woman behind me seemed just as confused. 

"What the hell? We caught someone spying on our meeting and we applaud them!" 

"Tina!" cried the Australian man excitedly, "did you not see what power she was using?" 

There was a sharp intake of breath from behind me. 

"Ice... of course." 

I judged that ten minutes had passed, so I let my head go back down while still holding my glasses in place. 

I looked around at everyone in the room in shock, completely confused. 

"Wait what's going on?" 

They didn't seem to react as the Australian practically leapt over to me from his chair and thumped me on the back. His body temperature causing me to flinch from the heat. 

"H-hey!" 

They still didn't stop celebrating. 

"WILL YOU STOP!" I yelled, my sudden temper flaring enough to send ice out from under my feet and about a foot in all directions. 

All the noise stopped at once and every stared at me. 

The Australian was first to speak. 

"Well, we've definitely got the right guy." 

"Who are you people?" I asked trying to keep the panic out of my voice. 

Nigel walked up to me with his hands in front of him in an appeasing way. 

"Please calm down. We will explain." 

There was a scraping noise to the side. I looked around Nigel to see Sneezy pushing an extra chair to add to the group between the dark haired woman and the Australian. 

"Come, sit." 

I tried to swallow my nervousness as I walked over to the chair and sat down. Sneezy reached over and tapped my glasses, there was a burst of yellow and my glasses were fixed. I pulled them forward to have a look, other than a new, thin band of yellow on the nose rim, they were fine. 

The dark haired woman dropped my bag in front of me as she walked to her own seat on my right. 

My hands gripped the seat and I could feel the wood frosting up beneath them from my nervousness. Being in this unusual situation made it difficult to keep my rigid control in place. 

Nigel went back to the front of the group and clapped his hands for absolute silence.  
"Alright, to start, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Nigel." Nigel motioned with his hand to the Australian. 

"I'm Billy." 

My turn. 

"Jackie." 

The dark haired woman was Tina and Sneezy's actual name was Sally. 

"So." Said Nigel, "Now I have a question for you, Jackie. Do you believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman or Jack Frost?" 

There was silence as they waited for my answer. 

"Well, no. I haven't for some time." 

There was a sudden change in the atmosphere in the room. It went from friendly to upset and some cases hostile. 

"What? What did I say?" I asked as the frost on the chair grew. 

"Oh great." Groaned Billy. "This is going to be harder than we thought." 

Nigel sighed and sat down in his chair, which groaned under his weight. 

"Okay, this may make what I'm going to say next a lot less credible, but I promise you this is true." 

"The five of us in this room have powers. You've seen yours and Tina's. Sally has the ability to use something called Dream Sand, sleepy dust if you will.  
Bill has agility, speed and hearing greater than a normal man. People related to him can also have plant like powers or can control the earth the same way you control ice. I, well, I have some excellent craftsmanship skills, which may not seem like much of a power, but it's still important.  
To explain the belief question. We believe, no, we know that they exist." 

I opened my mouth to interject but Nigel put up a hand. 

"Let me finish. They were people, like you and I, although some aren't so sure when it comes to the Easter Bunny, but they all had friends, family. So when they became who they are today, part of their genes were passed on. Enough to pass on their powers.  
Those five I mentioned are known as the Guardians, because for every figure for good, there is a figure for darkness, and they defend children from them.  
Those of us who are, in essence, descended from them, have come together in groups that are called the Human Order of Guardians-Burgess Branch, which sounds grander than it actually is. We mostly just meet up to discuss our lives, it's more of a social gathering then anything exciting. Sometimes we have training sessions to hone our abilities, but other than that, not much." 

Nigel leaned back in his chair, waiting for my response. 

"This...sounds like some kind of cult." 

Nigel practically deflated, Tina tutted behind me while Billy facepalmed. 

"Really kid?" Chided Tina. "How do you explain the wings then, or your own powers?" 

"I don't know! But any explanation would be more plausible than this!" 

The frost spread further along the chair, now covering most of the seat and going down  
the legs. 

"Jackie, please..." 

"No!" 

I stood back up and grabbed my bag. 

"I've never heard anything more stupid in my life." 

I began to walk out when I heard. 

"Wait." 

Sally had finally spoken up. 

Despite myself I stopped in my tracks and turned around. 

Sally stood on her chair and held out her hands. A golden glow surrounded them, then fountains of golden sand burst from them. 

Moving her hands in a circular motion she gathered up the sand and it tightly packed together to form a human a figure. 

I took a step back when I realised it was me. 

The same skinny frame with a round face, hair in a ponytail draped over one shoulder. A raincoat with jeans and trainers, with a backpack straps over the shoulders and rectangular glasses perched on the nose. 

"Wha-?" 

Sally wasn't done, more sand formed into the shape of giant, intricately carved snowflake. 

My eyes widened. This wasn't possible, the only person I'd seen do something like this was, me. 

In response I held up my hands and furrowed my brow in concentration. I began moving them in a slow circular pattern as the ice formed. A snowflake of my own formed in front of my own hands, growing larger and larger until it was the same size as Sally's. 

Sally gave a small grin formed another human figure, this time her own. 

Catching on to her game I also smiled and began sweep my arms, stirring up a small ice storm. I brought them together and another figure was formed from my ice. 

I carefully manipulated into Tina's shape. I expected the woman herself to scoff at it, but she was too busy staring open mouthed at our little contest. 

We finished off with Billy and Nigel, who laughed wholeheartedly at our efforts. 

"So." Said Nigel once we'd finished. "Have we convinced you about the powers thing?"  
That wiped the smile off my face and I sighed. 

"I believe that you have powers, but I'm still doubtful about the whole Guardians thing." 

"I suppose that's the best we can hope for right now." 

I glanced at my watch and my eyes widened. 

"Oh no! I need to meet my mum soon." 

"Okay, we'll see you out Jackie." Said Nigel. 

As we walked out they told me when to try and get here the next day about the same time. With a promise that I'd try to come back. 

That night I went back to the lake. The results of my training from yesterday were still there, although a bit melted. 

I let ice gather in a ball in my hand, then flung it with pinpoint accuracy at the centre of one of the snowman's heads. 

What happened today confused me. I was happy at the fact there were others with powers, but they were all adults, they all had full control no doubt and may not even remember what it was like to not be in control. Then there was the whole Guardians thing. 

I hadn't believed in seven years, just meeting a few people who did wouldn't convince me otherwise. 

I cleared a path in the snow with a sweep of my hand and climbed up onto a nearby tree. I settled on a branch and leaned against the trunk, debating whether or not I should actually go back tomorrow. 

I idly hovered a ball of ice over my hand as I thought, to the point that I didn't hear footsteps until it was too late. 

"Wow, that's cool!" 

I panicked and let the ball drop as I stood up to look around for the voice. Only to get hit in the back with a snowball. 

"Hey!" I cried, only to get a giggle in response. 

I stood up on the branch and looked directly down to see a young boy, maybe about eight or nine, standing below me holding my ice ball. 

He had messy brown hair which hung over his slightly too big ears, and a gap toothed smile which spread proudly across his face. His hair was slightly over one eye, and said eyes were shiny brown which peeked out from the ski hat he was wearing. 

"Here, you dropped this." 

He threw back my ice ball, which I easily caught. 

"Who are you?" I asked, crouching on the branch. 

"Jamie, you?" 

"Jackie." I answered cautiously. 

"Were you making the ice hover? It would have been so cool if you were!" 

"Whoa, slow down." I sat back down on the branch. "How much did you see?" 

I wasn't being nearly as careful as I should have been, but I've only been confronted about this once, which was earlier today. I should have just told him that he was seeing things, but I'd said too much now. 

"I saw you sitting in the tree with a snowball hovering above your hand. The way you were moving your fingers made it look like you controlling it." 

"And you're not, scared, about it?" 

"Why should I? It's cool! You're the second person I've seen do this." 

"Wait, second?" I was so surprised I almost fell out of the tree. "Who was this other person?" 

"Jack Frost." 

He said it so matter of factly that it almost didn't register for a second. 

"Jack Frost!?" 

I couldn't work it out and my mind spun as I was trying to figure out his train of thought. 

"Ho- When?" 

"Around Easter this year." 

"I've heard people call that Easter Dis-easter." I recalled, there had been an issue with the eggs or something. 

Jamie giggled. "Yeah, but it was cool in the end." 

I tried to keep a diplomatic approach about my next question. I didn't believe that he'd met Jack Frost, but he seemed to believe so strongly that I didn't want to upset him. 

"So, what was he like, Jack Frost?" 

"He helped me believe in the Easter Bunny again, along with Santa, the Tooth Fairy and Sandman." 

The same five that Nigel had mentioned; a coincidence? 

"He was surprised as well, he acted like no one had ever seen him before. Oh and he loves snowball fights!" 

"Well, what did he look like?" I tried. 

"He's tall, not as tall as Bunny or Santa, a bit taller than you, his hair's white and he carries around this huge stick. He's also got a blue hoodie with bits of frost on it." 

"Okay." 

I tried to think of another line of questions, although he done a good job of providing a description of Jack Frost. So either he had seen him or had a very vivid imagination. 

"You said that he wasn't as tall as Santa, have you seen him as well?" 

"Yeah, all of them, my dog actually chased the Easter Bunny." He seemed to laugh at the memory. 

I had not expected that answer. I pondered the credibility for a second, he seemed to believe strongly, but he was a kid, it could have been some kind of lucid dream. 

"Hey did you build these?" 

Jamie had run around the lake and over to my creations yesterday. 

"Yes, I made them last night." 

"Cool." 

Something occurred to me. 

"Hey Jamie, you never said why you were here?" 

"Oh!" 

He looked away from my work and back at me to explain. 

"Well, I live in the area, and I was feeling a bit bored, so I came here. Sometimes I come here with my friends, but not this late. What about you?" 

"I come here to practice. Not a lot of people come here at this time so I don't get found out." 

"Why don't people come here at night?" 

"You don't know the story?" 

Jamie shook his head. 

"Well, many centuries ago, a young boy and his sister came here one winters morn for ice skating. The ice turned out to be too thin for skating, so once on the lake, the ice began to crack and splinter. In an act of selflessness, the older brother got his sister to safety, but at the cost of his own.  
He plummeted through the ice and sank like a stone. Never to come up again.  
The next day however, the ice was whole and new, as though no one had even stepped on it. Once the ice melted in spring the lake was searched for a body, so a modest funeral could be held, but no body was found. It was as if the lifeless corpse had crawled its why out of the lake.  
It's said that on nights when the moon is round and full, the corpse awakes and searches the land for its sister to ensure her safety." 

Jamie stared at me wide eyed. "Really?" 

"Well, if it is, it's afraid of girls with ice powers. I've come here every night for seven years and I've never seen a walking, water logged corpse." 

"Oh." Jamie actually looked a little disappointed. 

"It's convenient for me though, the story still holds enough weight that people avoid  
this place at night, so I can practice in peace." 

"Although." I mock looked over my shoulder and leaned in to him slightly. "Don't let your family know I told you. I expect they didn't want to spook you just yet. Don't let me  
spoil their fun when they do tell you." 

He giggled again, "I won't." 

His eyes drifted over to my snow forts. 

"Hey, wanna snowball fight?" 

The sudden change of subject caught me by surprise. 

"Uh, okay." 

"Alright!" 

He darted away and began grabbing at snow and packing them together. I'd never had a snowball fight, but I figured I could use my powers here. 

I lowered myself from the tree, raised my hand and pulled snow off the ground. With a clench of my hand it went into a perfect orb. 

By the time Jamie had an armful of snowballs, I had twenty hovering behind me. My arms were held out to the sides, maintaining the hover. 

"Hey! That's cheating!" Cried Jamie. 

"No one said anything about not using ice powers." I said a grin spreading across my face. 

I sent one towards him with a flick of my hand and he flung one at me. 

This began a snow battle spanning the whole clearing, since I didn't even have a range.  
Jamie was whooping with joy as he dodged my snowballs by diving behind trees and snow people. 

I was also laughing, not having had this much fun in years. Seven years to be exact. 

I shook that sobering thought out my mind, it was only snowballs, nothing was going to happen. 

Finally we collapsed on the ground from tiredness, laughing still. 

"I haven't had this much fun in ages." I panted. 

"It was a lot of fun. Can we do this again tomorrow?" 

"Sure, same time?" 

"Yeah!"

**I decided to put this up today since I'm going to be disappearing until about Friday evening. Normally the schedule would be a new chapter every Monday and Thursday.**

**Chapters are not always going to be this long, in fact in the future some are going to be about half the size, but that's mainly to keep things somewhat suspenseful.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Okay, I lied. I had to take my laptop with me to sort out a hacker issue, which I couldn't do at home because the internet is rubbish!**

I wish that my day with HOG was nearly as fun, but it was a go over of the rules. In my head I counted how many I'd already broken. 

1. Don't show off your powers- broken  
2. Don't tell anyone outside of HOG about your powers- broken  
3. Try not to use them frivolously in public- broken  
4. Do not discuss your connection to the Guardians outside of HOG- not broken.  
5. Don't tell anyone about HOG- not broken.  
6. Do not arrange to meet a Guardian unless in a dire emergency- yes, because that's likely to happen. 

Well, I could have done worse. I didn't tell them of course, why would I? I wasn't stupid. 

I sat through a meeting while they still insisted that these Guardians still exist, I wasn't ready to go that far. 

But finally it was over and after an agreement to meet back the next week I was already daydreaming about meeting Jamie. 

We had another snowball fight and started building snowmen, by hand this time. 

"Hey, Jackie?" Jamie asked as he was rolling his snowman's head. 

"Yeah?" 

"Jack told me that he likes to come here sometimes." 

I suppressed the urge to sigh. It was bad enough that HOG were getting on my case about this; I didn't need a kid to as well! 

"Well, I've never seen him." 

"Do you believe in him?" 

The tricky question. 

"Well, I don't know. You're not the only one telling me he exists, but I'm just, finding it difficult." 

What made me say that? A simple yes or no would have been fine! 

"Then that's why! You can't see him because you don't believe." 

"Well, I don't really know what I can do about that." I said as I put the head of my hand built snowman on the body. 

Jamie paused for a second to think. 

"Say, can we come back later tonight? We can wait for him." 

"I don't know, what about your parents?" 

"Oh who cares?!" He cried excitedly, an enthusiastic grin on his face. "You've gotta meet him! He'll be really happy if you could see him." 

"I don't..." 

"Come on, please?" 

He looked so pleading and hopeful that I didn't have the heart to say no. And I'd already broken several of HOG's rules when it came to Jamie, what was one more? 

"Alright, we'll come back later." 

Of course we didn't see him when we snuck out later, but it was nice to just talk about stuff. Jamie told me about his family and school friends, I mainly listened, as I didn't have much to say on that. It was just my parents, and at school I sat in the library. For once it was nice to say the real reason, I didn't want my powers showing. The excuse we gave the school was that I had asthma, which was brought on by physical activity. Utter rubbish of course, but that did mean I could get out of P.E. 

It reached about four AM when we were both yawning and we decided to call it a night.  
I made sure to walk him back and help him get through his open window. After bidding him good night I made my own way back. 

"Good Morning." 

I came to halt and slowly spun around to try and face the voice. I couldn't determine the age, but the voice definitely belonged to a girl. 

I was walking back through the forest on my way home, so all I could see where trees and shadows. 

"Who's there?" 

Instead of answering my question, the voice asked a question of her own. 

"Do really think you should be with Human Order of Guardians?" 

"Wha- How do you know-?" 

"You don't really believe what they spout out, do you?" 

"Well, I-" 

"I can't blame you I suppose, they are the only people who might understand what you're going through, but they're all adults, can they really understand?" 

The voice seemed to be moving, so I kept spinning trying to find it. 

"Wha-? Who are you?" 

"Just someone, someone who could be your friend." 

"What's your name?" I asked, trying to get some control over the situation. 

"My name doesn't matter right now. If you change your mind about them, I'll be here..." 

"Hey, wait!" 

My only answer was a distant owl hoot. 

I spent several nights a week with Jamie, waiting for Jack Frost. He never did show up, unsurprisingly, but it was nice to talk with someone and to not be afraid to use my powers. He started telling me about his other interests, things like mythical beings and UFOs. He was a strange boy for sure, which might explain why he wasn't freaking out about my powers. 

The strange voice often turned up, offering the same thing. The scary thing was though, the more I listened, the more I liked what I heard. The offer to get away from here, not being afraid of my powers showing, it seemed so tempting. Then my mind would go to my parents, and Jamie, I couldn't just up and leave them behind. 

I hadn't expected it to go sour so quickly. 

At the HOG meeting two weeks later I immediately knew something was off. Everyone was there earlier than normal and each had varying expressions on their face. 

Tina looked disdainful and tutted as I walked in. Billy looked plain angry, but Sally's  
was the most painful, she just looked so disappointed. 

Nigel had a neutral expression, but from the others reactions I guessed that he wasn't happy. 

"What's going on?" I asked once I'd registered their expressions. 

Nigel opened his mouth, but Billy took a flying leap from his chair and landed in front of me, his nostrils flaring in anger. 

"What's going on?! I'll tell ya what's going on kid. The same day we told you the rules, you went and bloody broke 'em!" 

"What?!" How had they found out? It was just me and Jamie, right? 

"Billy." 

Billy gave another glare in my direction before heading back to his seat, allowing Nigel to approach. 

"I know you're sceptical about us, but the rules are important. For everyone's safety." 

"How did you even know that I broke them? There was no one else there!" There was no going back from that statement. 

"No one else?" 

"Well, one person, but I didn't tell him about you guys." 

Nigel sighed, "How did you meet this person?" 

"He lives in the area so-" 

"He?" asked Tina. 

"Yes, His name's Jamie." 

"Of course it would be a boy..." 

"He's a kid!" I countered, "there's nothing like that going on!" 

"We received an tip off from another member of HOG." Said Nigel bringing the attention back to him. 

"They reported seeing you and a young boy sitting by the lake, supposedly waiting for Jack Frost to show up, and you using your powers in front of him." 

I felt the blood drain from my face, I hadn't told anyone. So someone had seen, that meant someone knew, and if someone knew then... 

"Jackie, the floor!" 

I looked down to see that the floor around me had become coated in a thick layer of ice.  
I swallowed and tried to bring to back in, muttering my mantra, but my panic was too great. Visions of pitchfork mobs and barred doors filled my mind. 

Billy jumped onto another seat as the ice overtook his and the others began to back off as well. 

"Oh Christ! I think we overdid it guys!" 

The ice had begun to spread at a worryingly fast speed as Jackie's face became filled with horror at whatever was in her head. 

Tina looked in panic as the ice touched her previous chair and instantly wrapped it in ice. 

"Someone calm her down, or we're all going to become ice cubes!" 

Sally nodded and used her powers to float off the ground over the ice. She floated in front of Jackie and waved her hand in front of her face. Getting nothing Sally floated around her, trying to assess the situation. Jackie's body was tense, and if her face said anything, she was terrified by something. What she needed was some kind of comfort. 

With that determined Sally went back to the front of Jackie and wrapped her arms around the terrified teenager, pulling her into a hug. 

Something uncomfortably warm shocked me out of my fear filled visions. My eyes focused on reality and I realised what had helped me get some control. 

"...Sally?" 

"Right here." 

Despite the heat from her body, there was something comforting about the hug, and I felt calmer. My breathing calmed down and I no longer felt my heart pounding. 

"Thank you." 

My eyes scanned the hall, seeing how far my ice had reached and the reaction that it had on the chairs. 

Feeling infinitely calmed by Sally's presence I reached out to the ice and drew it back in.

The ice creaked in protest, then all in one big rush it flooded back in, causing my hair to fly upwards from the force. 

Sally let go and floated to ground with a small smile on her face. I had a feeling that she knew exactly what I was imagining. 

I looked around the rest of the room. "Sorry, I, I'm sorry." 

"Jeez, did we freak ya out that much?" Asked Billy, still perched on the top of a chair. 

"No, I was freaking myself out. I thought that if someone had seen me use my powers then..." 

"We've been there." Said Sally, still with her small smile. 

Nigel, who'd taken refuge on the stage, walked forward and leapt off, landing in front of me. 

"Now that's over, the matter still stands. I'm not stopping you from meeting the boy, God knows you need the company, just be careful showing your powers. He already knows so there's no point trying to convince him otherwise, but no more late night Jack Frost stakeouts, understood?" 

"... Alright."


	5. Chapter 4

**A huge thank you to MIMitationBalance for following!**

**Now, on with the story!**

I knew where Jamie lived, having dropped him off early in the morning, so I headed over there once the meeting proper was over.

I walked around the fence to the road so I could see the front of his house. It was of a decent size, made from red brick and with a garage and driveway on the right. On the left were steps leading up to a porch, which in turn led to the white painted door. I walked up the path and up the steps to the door and took a deep breath, story clear in my head. 

I pressed my finger on the buzzer for a second, letting it ring, then stepped back. 

The door opened quickly to reveal an average sized woman with Jamie's dark hair, all tied up in a loose bun. Her face seemed tired, although I imagine dealing with two kids and dog on her own didn't help. 

"Hello?" she asked. 

"Hello, I was hoping that Jamie was in?" She seemed surprised that someone my age was asking about her son. 

"And you are?" 

"Jackie, Jackie Davies." 

The woman leaned over her shoulder and called into the house. 

"Jamie, there's a Jackie at the door for you!" 

There was a thunder of footsteps and Jamie hurtled into the doorway. 

"Hey Jackie!" 

He took one look at my face and his own fell. 

"What's up?" 

"I can't keep doing the Jack Frost thing." 

"Why?" 

I'd been working on a story since I left the meeting. 

"I got found out. My parents don't mind me going out to practice, but that late is when they draw the line. We can still meet up, just not that late." 

"Oh, okay." He looked disappointed for a second, then his face lit up with an idea. 

"Hey, can we go there now?" 

I blinked in surprise "Now?" 

"Yeah, I want to see you practice properly!" 

"Oh, I don't know, I can't-" 

"Come on! Please." 

He looked at me with big pair of puppy eyes which melted even my heart. 

"Alright, but please do what I say when we get there, and check with your family first!" 

"Can I mum?" he asked, turning to his mum who apparently hadn't been too far away. 

"I have no issue with it." 

"Who's at the door?" 

An older woman that I recognised shuffled into the doorway. 

"Mrs Pierce?" 

The older woman with greying, bunned hair looked at me through her glasses and smiled. 

"Jacqueline! Good to see you, you've grown so much since I last saw you." 

"And you've barely aged." 

"Oh stop it." She giggled. "I must say, it's nice to see you out and about. You've barely  
shown your face since Daniel-" 

"Please, let's not." I winced, I really didn't want to talk about that. 

"Of course, terrible accident, poor boy, no wonder you retreated like that, you two were so close." 

"Please." I begged with gritted teeth. 

"Of course, sorry. Anyway, you two go have fun, it'll be good for both of them." 

Jamie's mother nodded in agreement. 

"Alright, get your coat on." 

Once Jamie had got his coat, his mum made us promise to be back by six, which we agreed to. 

As we walked to the lake Jamie was hopping up and down with excitement whilst I was more reserved. Mrs Pierce had brought back memories I didn't want to relive, not to mention that I was still rattled by this morning, so despite myself the same scene ran rampant in my mind.

_"DANIEL!"_

Jamie started talking, and I tried to focus on him, although the scene still went around and around in my mind's eye. 

"I can't wait to see what you can do, Jack had some sweet powers and yours are probably just as cool!" 

"Well, about that..." 

"What?" 

"I'm not always in control." 

"What do you mean?" 

"My powers can get away from me sometimes, usually when I'm afraid, and when that happens things get, scary." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah, that's why I practice so much, and why I try to stay so reserved, I'm scared that  
one wrong move and someone could, someone could get hurt." 

"Oooh." 

"That's why you need to do what I tell you while I practice, I don't want to risk  
anything." 

I came to a stop and faced him. 

"So promise me, once we get to the lake, you'll do exactly as I say, okay?" 

Jamie nodded earnestly, grasping the situation. "I promise." 

"Thank you." 

We continued walking. 

"I never knew you knew Granny Janie." He said. 

"She's the social butterfly of the town, she knows everything about everyone and naturally, everyone knows her. What was she doing there anyway? I thought she had her own place." 

"She was just visiting for a bit." 

Another moment of silence. 

"What was she talking about earlier, with Daniel?" 

"It's not something I like to talk about." 

"Why?" 

"Doesn't matter." 

"But you were close-" 

"I said it doesn't matter!" I yelled turning to face him. 

I glared until I realised what I was doing and felt the ice form at my feet. I drew back and tried to regain control over my facial expression to try and get the scared one off Jamie. 

"Please, can we drop it?" 

Jamie nodded wordlessly, looking more than a little scared. 

"I'm sorry, I don't get angry often, but it's a touchy subject." 

"It's okay." His voice contradicted his words, but I couldn't think of anything to say to make it better. 

We walked the rest of the way in silence. 

Once we reached the lake I instructed Jamie to sit in one of the trees as I walked to the centre of the lake and began my normal session. 

Tonight I decided to change it up, once the flurry hit its peak I formed an ice bridge.  
At the same time I jumped and the leftover ice attached itself to my feet, forming blades. I landed on the bridge and began skating along, extending the bridge with my powers. 

I heard an appreciative gasp from Jamie. 

"Don't clap yet, I've only done this a few times." 

I wobbled slightly as I picked speed, but soon I was confident to start powering along in variously angled ice bridges. 

My heart thudded in my chest and a huge grin appeared on my face, I hadn't had this much fun since the snowball fight. 

"Wahoo!" I yelled, throwing my arms in the air, a grin forming across my face from the  
newly pumping adrenaline. 

As soon as I did that I began to wobble, and that wobble was all it took to break my concentration. 

I shot off the edge of the bridge and was heading for a sore landing on the frozen surface of the lake. I quickly summoned a flurry of snow beneath me to land on. 

I grunted in pain as I landed and sent up the lighter bits of snow into the air, I could still feel the ice, but the snow had at least softened it. Even so there were going to be a few bruises. 

My sigh of annoyance was quickly interrupted by laughter. 

"Oh man, you were doing so well, then you just went, foowsh thump." 

"Foowsh thump?" I asked as I picked myself up and brushed off the snow. I was glad that Jamie seemed to be over earlier. 

"Yeah!" 

I chuckled "Yeah, I guess that sums it up." 

I got him back to his house right on time and after dodging a gossip with Mrs Pierce I started on my own way home. 

"Hello again." 

I sighed and shoved my hands in my pockets as I replied. 

"Hello." 

I turned around to see a figure walk out of the shadows, she'd been doing that recently. She was dressed in all black with black, messy hair and not a trace of make up on her sallow face as she spoke. 

"So HOG found out, did they?" 

"And how would you know about that? Unless you were the one who reported me." 

"Oh no, but if it wasn't me, then who, because if someone else knows..." 

I tensed as a vision of fire and screaming crossed my mind. 

"I'll deal with it." 

"My offer still stands. We can leave this place, you and me. No one to tell us what to do, no need to live in fear." 

"And it would be just the two of us? Sorry, but my answer's still no." 

"I'll be here." 

"I just wish you'd leave me alone." 

"No you don't, you never know after all." 

And with that she disappeared into the shadows again.


	6. Chapter 5

The week went on like this, letting Jamie watch me practice and putting up with the shadow girl. Her appearances annoyed me now, but I was able to forget about her at any other point. I had made a friend now, and I wanted to gain HOG's trust after the fiasco the other day. Running away would not be helpful anymore.

The subject of Daniel wasn't brought up again, thank goodness. 

Although I should've known it would come back to bite me. 

I was training again, but this time I had relaxed enough with Jamie and the technique that I allowed him to skate on my ice bridges. I guided the ice on his skates so that he wouldn't fall off whilst he built momentum. I was fairly relaxed and Jamie was laughing like crazy. 

Suddenly he came to a halt and looked up in the sky, causing me to bring his skates to a stop. I couldn't see the expression on his face, but I heard the smile in his voice. 

"Jack!" 

I spluttered in surprise, "J-Jack? A-as in...?" 

Was he being serious? 

"Yeah, this is Jackie." 

He looked back at me with a grin, which fell as he saw my face. 

"Hey what's the matter?" 

"N-nothing. I-I shouldn't be here..." I stuttered as I backed away. I remembered Nigel's  
warning all too well, I did not want to get in trouble again. 

I let the ice bridge come to ground and the ice blades on Jamie's boots melted. He stepped across the frozen lake and looked at me, curious and a little upset. 

"What do you mean? I thought you said that your parents didn't want you out let late, not anything about Jack." 

"I-I..." I couldn't think straight. Jamie was talking like Jack Frost was actually there, and if he was, then what if that informant was still here, what if they reported me again?  
I got off lightly last time, what about this time? 

My eyes flicked left and right as I tried to calm down, I could feel ice forming on my hands. I did not need that to happen in front of Jamie, especially not here. 

A branch snapping behind me did not help. 

I jumped and spun behind me, a few icicles dropping from my hands in sudden panic. Out of the trees came the shadow girl, and any good mood that might have remained disappeared. 

"Can you stop doing that?" I said, a frown appearing on my face and relaxing slightly. 

"My apologies." Her eyes flicked between the space above Jamie and back to me. 

"You know, now would be a good time-" 

"No, now's not a good time, can you please...?" 

"Jackie? Who's that?" I ignored Jamie as the shadow girl continued speaking. 

"Yeah, but if they find out, who knows what may happen. And how could they understand? Times have changed, they don't know what you've been through-" 

I turned on her, rage filling my mind for the first ever time. I'd had enough of her, enough of her tempting me, enough of her, just in general! 

"Shut up! Who do you think you are!? What do you know about it anyway!? Just, leave me alone!" 

My hand flew backwards in rage, which was followed by a gasp from Jamie. 

I turned to see a ring of sharp icicles behind me and Jamie clutching his stomach, a look of shock on his face. 

"Jamie?" I asked, my rage trickling away and being replaced with concern. 

A spot of red ran though his fingers. 

"JAMIE!" 

I leapt over my ice and caught him as he began to fall, kneeling down beside him. 

"No no no no no, not again, please not again." 

I saw Jamie's mouth move as he tried to speak. 

"Don't speak, we don't know the damage yet, just try to not to move. Keep your hands there, try and put pressure on it." 

I tried to ignore the ice forming at my knees from my panic and horror, instead focusing on the black specks on his hands as I tried to think of a plan 

"Just nod or shake your head, do you have a phone?" 

Jamie nodded. 

I frantically searched his pockets, pretending not to see the fern like patterns of frost forming where I touched his coat. 

I found it and quickly rang for an ambulance. 

"Hello ambulance." 

"Hello, it's my friend, I think he's been stabbed by something, it was an accident." 

"Slow down, where are you?" 

"I-I don't know the official name but locally it's called the Haunted Lake." 

"Alright, can I get your names?" 

"Jacqueline Davies, and my friend's Jamie Bennet." 

"Okay, an ambulance is on the way, try to keep him warm and comfortable." 

They hung up. 

"Warm huh? I've never been warm in my life." I said bitterly. I took off my coat, which  
I'd only worn to appease my parents, and put it over him, then with a sweep of my hand I moved the snow from underneath him. It was the best that someone like me could do. 

On that my control broke and tears began to spill from my eyes as my hand went limp and dropped the phone. It landed with a clatter on the ice. 

"They're going to think it was you, you know." Said the shadow girl. 

"You're still here?" I asked, not looking at her. 

"They'll think it was you, they'll look back at the records, then they'll find out about your power." 

I looked at my hands, at the frost forming on my fingertips. 

"Let's go, together, you and me. They'll never find you and we-." 

Her hand touched my shoulder and I flinched at her too warm touch. 

"Don't touch me." 

"But we can-." She tried again. This time I stood up and moved away. 

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" 

She looked at with hurt in her eyes as I continued to cry. 

"I'm a freak. I'll just hurt everyone." 

"Jackie-." I didn't even register Jamie saying my name. 

"Just, stay away from me!" I screamed. 

With that I turned and ran. 

I ran into the forest, my powers causing the snow around me to take a life of its own, creating a snowstorm, which mimicked my own internal storm. I didn't even try to say my mantra, I almost wanted to let it out. 

I didn't feel any cold as my mind went back to the ring of icicles, ice formed when I felt a strong emotion, the last HOG meeting, then all the way back to seven years ago. 

I cried as I ran, those images running through my head, I couldn't go back now, it was my fault anyway, there was no doubt that an icicle was what caused Jamie's injury. 

My icicle. 

It grew dark as I grew tired of running and collapsed into the snow. The blizzard increasing in strength as the moon began to shine. 

I curled up into a ball as the snow piled on top of me. There was no chance of me dying of cold, even with me only in a t shirt and jeans. But I might as well try to let myself die, that way I can never hurt anyone else. 

Still crying I drifted off to sleep. 

The shadow girl fought her way through the newly forged snow storm. She needed to find Jackie, it wasn't likely that she would die in this cold, but she needed someone right now, and who better then someone who's as misunderstood as Jackie feels. 

It wasn't easy in this snow storm, the snow was so thick that trees and other obstacles seemed to appear out of nowhere and centimetres from her face. There was also a strong wind that almost seemed to come from multiple directions at once, sending the already messy hair of the shadow girl into a frenzy. 

She only hoped that a certain Mr. Frost wouldn't interfere and become another obstacle. 

It was amusing to watch his face change from baffled to almost sad to horror as it became obvious that Jackie couldn't see him and when the boy fell over. What was more interesting was that Jack Frost and Jackie actually looked a little alike, something about the face shape. 

He'd probably stay by the boy for a while, but he wouldn't be affected by the snow storm and could travel faster than she could. 

Speaking of the devil she felt a whoosh of wind as he flew past. She flung out her black sand and pulled back as it wrapped around the Spirit of Winter. 

"What are you doing?" He cried as she pulled him back, looking almost shocked at the black sand. 

"Sorry Mr. Frost, I can't let you interfere, it's not as if she can see you anyway." 

Jack scowled and slashed his staff at the shadow girl, sending a rush of ice her way. She put up a wall of black sand to block and send daggers of sand at him. Unable to move as swiftly as before the daggers hit, sending him to ground. The sand expanded, holding him down. Using her sand she teased the staff from the Winter Spirit's hand. 

"How about you hang around there for a bit while I find our friend." 

Jack only groaned in response. 

The shadow girl continued to struggle through the snow, only to trip over something buried in the snow. 

It seemed to be roughly human sized, excited she dug into the snow quickly finding Jackie. She seemed unaffected by the snow, but her eyes were red and puffy and the fallen tears had formed a frozen pile beneath her head. 

Underneath was a half formed dome of ice that was still growing, fuelled from her terrified dreams and presumably a desire to shut herself off from the world. 

After looking over her shoulder to make sure the Jack Frost was still down she gently shook Jackie's shoulder. 

"Jackie, Jackie."


	7. Chapter 6

"Jackie, Jackie."

A soft voice broke through the nightmares and I slowly blinked awake. In front of my face was the face of the shadow girl, her black hair being tossed around by the wind I could vaguely hear roaring in the background. 

In response I groaned and rolled away from her. 

"Go away." 

"And leave you here? Not happening." 

"Who are you anyway, why have you been following me?" 

"I recognised a kindred spirit. You're scared of your powers, I used to be as well, I can help you." I heard a soft crunch of snow as she crouched down. 

"I have blood on my hands, I don't deserve that. And you still haven't answered the first question." 

"Oh just listen to you! Have you completely given up? I'll tell my name if you stop wallowing in misery and get up." 

I lay there for a few seconds, not really wanting to, but my mind drifted to the look of wonder that Jamie had when he first saw my powers properly. That image alone made me feel a lot better. 

With that image firmly fixed in my mind I got to my feet, feeling an ice shell around me shatter. My legs felt a little wobbly and for a moment I had put my hand on the shadow girl's shoulder to steady myself as I turned around. 

"That's better." Said the shadow girl as I recovered and stood properly in front of her, the snow storm dying down as I calmed down. 

"My name is Penelope." 

"Hello Penelope." I replied and Penelope smiled at me, her whole face lighting up. 

"So, what do you say, shall we go, together?" 

"I don't know..." 

"Oh come on, you've already run away, might as well go the whole hog." 

"Hmmm." I shoved my hands into my pockets, still undecided about the whole thing. Whilst  
I had done the unforgivable in my mind, the last time something like this happened my parents didn't give up on me. I wasn't sure if I could just leave them without a word. 

Penelope stepped towards me and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. 

"Think about it, you and me, no rules, no responsibilities, no one holding us back. Go  
wherever we want, do whatever we want. It's as good as it sounds." 

I didn't reply as I tried to ignore her too warm arm, still not really wanting to go through with it. 

As I thought my eyes flicked around at my surroundings, and something caught my eye just behind her, something that stood out from the white snow. 

Looking over her shoulder I saw a pile of black sand, and looking out her hand on my shoulder, I saw familiar twitches that told me that she was controlling it. But what was the point of it? 

The sand bugged me and my mind drifted back to the lake. Thinking about it, there was something about that, something was off. Jamie had been warm. 

Jamie had been warm. 

If he had been hit by my ice then his hands at least would have been freezing cold to a normal person's hands, which would have been neutral to me. The addition of the black specks, which thinking about it, looked like grains of sand on his hands added up to a very different truth. 

"It was you." I said slowly, not really wanting to believe it, but not able to come to any other explanation. 

"What? What was me?" 

"Jamie, he was warm, and there was sand on his hands, and you're controlling the sand behind you. You hit him, not me." I said, pulling myself from Penelope's grip and facing her. 

Penelope's face went white, then seeming unable to come up with an excuse, it twisted into a scowl. 

"Fine, I hit him, but I was desperate, I just wanted some company who understood, you had  
just been found by HOG, so there was still time to get you." 

Her admission sent a cold stabbing sensation in my gut, she had gone that far to get me away from anyone. Trying to remain calm I answered with. 

"There were other ways to go about it." 

"Too bad, but please, I'm sorry. I just wanted someone who understood, and HOG wouldn't do. Not that I didn't try, as soon as they saw my powers they tossed me out!" 

Her face twisted into a bitter sneer as she spoke of HOG. 

"Well, that's your problem. In any other situation I'd go with you, but you tried to hurt the only friend I've had I've years and allowed me to believe that I caused it! You wanted me to be your friend, but that's not what friends do." 

"Yeah, and you're the expert." 

"More of an expert than you apparently." 

I began to walk away, back through the trees and towards the lake. 

"After all of this you're walking away? After all of that effort? I even tried to turn HOG against you by reporting you." 

My fist clenched in anger, ice building on it, but I kept walking. 

"They'll still suspect you; you were the only other person there in their eyes." 

"I don't care, I can handle it." 

"Can you, without revealing what you can do." 

"You know what?!" I cried while spinning to face her, "I've stopped caring, my friend could be dying, I have to make sure he's alright at least." 

Penelope's face turned into a scowl. 

"Yes, let a little boy who couldn't possibly understand be your friend, rather than someone who understands your fears." 

She raised her hands, her face still in a scowl, but tears beginning to show in her eyes. 

"WELL STUFF YOU!" 

She pulled some of the black sand from the patch on the ground with a sweep of her arms and sent it flying towards me, which I blocked by stamping my foot and drawing up my arms, pulling up a barrier of ice. She responded by sending daggers or sand at my barrier, shattering it. 

I swept my arms in an arced horizontal fashion, taking control of the shattered ice and pushed my arms forward to send it flying at Penelope, who dived into the snow to avoid them. 

She rolled up again and sent more daggers my way, which I ran to the side and behind a tree to dodge, the daggers thudding into the wood. I stepped out from behind the tree, swept my arm forward and sent a blast of ice her way, only to be blocked by a wall of black sand. 

I rolled my hands over each other to forge a shaft of ice, then flung my arms to the right and pulled them left sweeping the shaft horizontally through her wall and knocking her into the snow. 

I walked forward and began to mould the snow in such a way to prevent her from following me. My hands moved without really thinking, my mind on the shapes in the snow than the ones my hands were forming. 

Before I could finish she sent a blast of sand directly at my face, causing me to spin away as the sand seemed to get around my glasses and begin to burn my eyes. 

"Arrgh!" I cried as I tried to blink the sand away, staggered slightly. There was a sudden pain in my back and I was flung forward, landing face first in the snow. 

I rolled over on my back as the sand began to clear from my eyes to see Penelope standing above me, with a spear made of black sand hanging over my head. Her face was still twisted in anger, but I could see that tears had fallen and were still falling. 

"Penelope, don't do this." 

She didn't seem to register my words as the spear went higher in preparation. I blinked like an owl, trying to clear my vision properly. 

"Penelope!" 

Still nothing from her. 

"I'm sorry." 

My vision now clear I thrust my hands upwards and an ice blast struck her in the stomach, sending her flying backwards, off her feet and into the snow. 

I scrambled to my feet and took off running, trying to not listen to her yelling after me. Looking over my shoulder I saw her form a shape out of the remaining black sand and some more that she seemed to form herself, which turned into a horse. Penelope mounted it and it charged after me with a cry. 

I jumped into the air, simultaneously forming ice skates and an ice bridge with an upward thrust of my hands. 

I landed and began skating, swinging my arms to help build my momentum. I made the bridge rise up and just below the canopy. 

I had to focus very carefully to make sure that I didn't crash into a tree, tilting my leading hand to change the ice bridge's path. Behind me I could hear Penelope catching up, the sandy hoof beats getting louder and louder. Four legs are always faster than two. 

I saw something black out of the corner of my eye and ducked under a blast of sand, continuing to skate. I couldn't allow my concentration to falter, so I couldn't send any counter attacks. 

I ducked and weaved between trees and sand attacks, still focused on trying to get to the lake, although I wasn't sure whether I was going the right way anymore. 

Night had fully fallen and it was only by the light of the moon that I was still able to see the trees and my ice. Penelope had faded into blackness, only the blasts of sand gave away her position. 

I heard shouts in the distance and I changed my path towards them, shouts meant people, and people meant help. Flashes of light from torches broke through the darkness and I angled the ice downward. 

It hit the ground and the blades melted away, allowing me to run towards them after a little stumble from landing. Behind me I could still hear the sand horse snorting from its creator's frustration, but before she could attack again I burst through a set of trees and straight into someone. 

We both fell back with an "oof" and I almost fell over, tired from running, fighting and skating. Others pointed their torches at us and began asking me questions. 

"Are you alright?" "What are you doing out here?" "What's your name?" 

Blinking in the sudden bright light I could see that these people were wearing police uniforms, I opened my mouth to answer when Penelope burst through the bushes, having abandoned her horse, and glared at me. 

"Penelope, stop!" 

She stood there panting, and finally seemed to register what was around me. Her face paled and she turned to run, but an officer wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back towards the group. 

"Take it easy, it's alright." 

After putting up with Penelope trying to get away and talking down her protests we got wrapped in insulating foil and we walked back to the town with them. They asked our names and such, they weren't all that surprised to hear that I was Jackie as they'd been called to the lake once it was found that I wasn't there with Jamie. 

They took us to the station and started a careful questioning over hot chocolate, which I didn't dare touch. I could feel the unbearable heat from it inches from my fingers. The station itself was also too warm, compared to the temperature outside. 

Since Jamie hadn't been questioned yet I told them that I hadn't actually been there when it happened, I was on my way to meet him when I found him on the ground. I told them that  
I ran because I panicked and thought that because I was the only one there that I'd be blamed for it, but came back when I realised the people would be worried about me. 

They believed my story and handed me over to my parents, who were crying and had been terrified that I wouldn't come back. 

I allowed them to hug me and tried not to cry myself. It was great to see that they were so concerned, but in their relief they didn't let me leave their sight all night, so I couldn't go and check on Jamie.

**Before anybody asks, that horse was not a Nightmare. It's like when Sandman makes an animal out of his sand. It was just formed to chase Jackie.**


	8. Chapter 7

Once they'd gone to bed I snuck out of my window and walked to the hospital. Visiting hours had ended, well, hours ago, so I had to get in my way.

I rose up to the windows with ice blocks, checking each room to find Jamie. I found him in what looked like the child's ward. 

Finding the window locked I breathed on the sill, allowing frost to form. I then controlled it so it went under the frame and up to where the lock appeared to be. There I made it come together into a piece of ice which found the lock and after some fiddling it clicked open. 

I pulled up the window and climbed in, carefully closing it behind me. 

On the bed in front of me was Jamie, sleeping peacefully. I let put a sigh of relief, weight from my shoulders seeming to melt away. 

Happy to see that he was alright I turned to leave. Behind me I saw the window was open again, which made things slightly easier for me. 

Before I could even pull myself up onto the sill I was stopped by a voice. 

"Jackie?" 

I spun around to see Jamie sitting up in his bed, a surprised look on his face. 

"Hey. You okay?" I said, glad that he was feeling well enough to get up and talk. 

He nodded, then began to speak quickly. 

"It wasn't you! You didn't hit me! It was that other girl, she used black sand, like  
Pitch. Please don't run away!" 

I looked between him and the window, then turned to the window and carefully closed it, so not to wake everyone up. I then went back to his bed and pulled up a chair, sitting on it. 

"I'm not going anywhere." 

"So, you're not going to run away?" 

I shook my head. "No, and I know that it wasn't me. I was actually on my way back when the police found me." 

"That's good." 

"Yes, that's certainly a relief." 

I spun my head around to the doorway to see Nigel walking towards us. I stood up in shock. 

"N-Nigel? H-how-?" 

"I never said that I could only do craft stuff." He mysteriously. 

Nigel walked to the side of Jamie's bed and pulled up another chair after nodding to the empty space just beside Jamie. I sat back down heavily on my chair as the new exchange began. 

"So, you must be the Jamie that's gotten Jackie so worked up." Said Nigel with a grin as  
I felt my face go red. 

"H-hey!" I weakly protested. 

"Huh?" Jamie looked beside him. "No, I've never met him before." 

"Ah." Said Nigel, smiling at Jamie. "I see you are familiar with Mr. Frost; that makes things a little easier." 

I stifled a sigh, not this again! 

Nigel continued to talk to thin air. 

"Have you been told about the Human Order of Guardians?" 

"What?" Asked Jamie, looking between Nigel and the air. 

Nigel nodded, "I see, as you probably know the Guardians were all normal people before  
they were Guardians, and naturally their relatives carried on with their lives. The members of the Human Order of Guardians are descended from the Guardians, not directly of course, but close enough to inherit some of your powers. For example I'm a Descendant of North." 

Nigel gestured over to me, "And Jackie here is in fact distantly related to you, enough to have similar powers to you." 

"So that's how you can do stuff with ice!" Cried Jamie, looking at me with understanding and excitement etched on his face. 

My response was to rub my eyes beneath my glasses and shake my head. 

"Nigel, can you please lay off? It's been a long day." 

Nigel sighed and shook his head at me. 

"Jackie..." 

"I just came here to check on Jamie, I'm not sitting through another lecture." I  
interrupted, standing up to leave. 

Nigel also stood up, a serious, steely look in his eyes as he glared at me. 

"Sit down. Now." 

I sat back down hurriedly, getting the feeling that I was already pushing my luck with Nigel. 

"It's about time that you started taking this seriously." He said, his glare still in full force, but still speaking softly enough that he wouldn't wake anyone up. 

"Who says that I haven't?" 

"Your attitude, that's what. You haven't even tried to take the idea of the Guardian's seriously." 

"How can I? The whole thing is-." 

"Stupid? Ludicrous? We've been there, and look at us now." 

The look on my face didn't change, I didn't believe, as I'd already said, it was ridiculous. 

"Even after meeting Jamie and tonight's events, you can't quite believe." Said Nigel, his arms folded. 

"You know what happened?" I asked, trying to get onto another subject. 

"I heard the alert over the radio that you'd gone missing and Jamie had been injured. There was later a report that you'd been found with another girl who was apparently Penelope." 

He let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes, also sitting back down. 

"Sadly, I know this girl, and so I can guess what happened." 

I tilted my head to the side. "She was just lonely." 

"Do you believe that?" 

"That I do believe. She seemed to be honestly worried about me and when I pushed her way she got upset. It was a natural reaction." 

Nigel opened his mouth but I continued. 

"And you didn't help either. She tried to get into HOG, but when you found out her powers you turned her back on her, so she has a grudge against you." 

Nigel sighed. "I had to, she's a Descendant of Pitch, or the Bogeyman as you probably know him. I couldn't trust her." 

I suppressed another sigh, Bogeyman? Seriously? Who else would Nigel insist existed?! 

"Your ancestors don't define you." I said, choosing to ignore the Bogeyman comment. "She was just as scared as I was, you should have helped her." 

"We didn't, and I stand by that decision, and it's too late anyway." 

He shook himself from his reverie. 

"Anyway, we have a more pressing issue, and with a Guardian in the room, there's never been a better time." 

I sighed, annoyed that we were back on this subject, "Look, I have tried, I just-" 

"Can't bring yourself to do it?" 

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. 

"I can see it in your eyes. Something happened that made you stop believing, something so terrible that you've been terrified ever since. With most it's just a case of growing up, but you grew up so suddenly, too suddenly." 

I licked my lips nervously. I knew what he was talking about, but I didn't want to remember it. Not now. 

"Was it to do with Daniel?" 

I looked over at Jamie, who'd been quiet throughout the whole conversation. 

"I mean, you freaked out when me and Granny mentioned him, and she said something about an accident. Was that it?" 

I bit my lip and looked at my feet, then I nodded. 

"Maybe you should talk about it." Said Nigel. 

I shook my head furiously. "Please, no." I begged, frost forming on the chair. 

"The fact you're so against it proves that you need to talk about it. You can't keep it locked up forever." 

I still looked down at my feet, not wanting to talk. 

"Have you ever talked about it?" 

I shook my head and my hands gripped the sides of the seat, forming more frost. 

"Surely you know that's not healthy." 

"I-I can't. You, he..." 

"I won't let it leave this room and we won't think of you any differently." 

"...Promise?" I asked, looking at Nigel. 

"Promise." 

I looked up at Jamie, who nodded encouragingly. 

I looked down at my feet again; I could see ice forming on the floor by them. Looking at it I could see my reflection, and I saw utter fear and sadness in my dark brown eyes. I had held it in for years, not even talking about it to my parents, could I really talk about it now? 

My shoulders squared when I realised the answer to that question. The answer was yes; enough was enough. Nigel was right; I had to let it out. Maybe then they'd get off my case. 

I took a deep breath and began, trying to keep my breathing under control. 

"I had a brother, called Daniel. He was a couple of years younger than me. He knew about my powers and loved them, often begging me to make it snow, in the middle of summer sometimes. I couldn't quite control them at that point, so I was told not to socialise at school just in case they showed, so Daniel was my only friend.  
My parents didn't mind us going to the lake to practice. One night when I was seven and he was five, we were just messing around, I'd frozen the lake as always so we could skate." 

My voice began to crack and I had take a couple of deep breaths so I could continue. 

"What happened then, was an accident, I didn't mean for it t-to happen. W-we were just messing around, I'd made some ramps for him to skate and sled off. H-he slipped and started falling, I d-didn't think and flung my hand out. Some i-icicles behind me detached and f-flew towards him a-a-and." 

I to stop again, my breath getting caught in my throat. 

"And hit him i-in the chest." 

Tears started flowing down my face as I relived that night. 

"Neither of us had phones and I was too scared to leave him alone. I just screamed for someone, anyone, to help, but no one did." 

"He died in my arms." 

I was full on sobbing now and had pulled my knees into my chest. I lowered my face into them and hugged them, my tears freezing the material as my glasses were forced onto my forehead. 

"I-it was an a-accident, I-I n-never meant t-to." 

"Of course you didn't, it was a terrible accident." 

I sniffed and didn't look up, staring at the ice forming on the chair. My voice carried on without any conscious decision. 

"At that point, everything looked dark. I had believed in Santa and the like, but at that point everything just lost its magic. I just couldn't see the world in that kind of light anymore. I retreated inwards and tried to suppress my emotions, because I'd been afraid when it happened, so I thought that if I held it in and practiced, it wouldn't happen again." 

There was silence as the others tried to take it in. 

"Jackie." I looked up at Jamie, who had an unusually serious expression on his face. "If  
it helps, I'm not afraid of you." 

"You, you're not?" 

He shook his head. "It was an accident; you never meant to hurt him. If you had meant to, then I would be afraid, but you didn't, so I'm not." 

I sniffed and gave a small smile, leave it to Jamie to say the right thing. 

"Thank you." 

Nigel was looking at me with an unreadable expression. 

"So, I can guess that something similar happened tonight; you lost control and panicked?" 

I nodded, unable to look at Jamie. "I thought that I'd... I'd..." 

"But you didn't." Said Jamie. 

"Doesn't change that I could have." I said bitterly. I looked at my hands, the seemingly innocent vessels of disaster. 

"I'm dangerous, I can't control it like I thought I could. Maybe I should have taken Penelope's offer." 

"No!" cried Jamie, causing a few kids around us stir in their sleep. 

"No." He repeated more quietly, "I heard what she was offering you; you're my friend Jackie, and I don't want you to go." 

That simple phrase suddenly seemed to take my heart and hug it, but this hug wasn't uncomfortable, it was nice. 

Nigel seemed to be having a hushed conversation with the air; once he was done he walked over and squatted in front of me. 

"Jackie, things make a lot of sense now, and even now I can see that you're scared of your power. There is someone in this room that can help you, if you want him to. I know this is asking a lot, but in order for him to help you, you need to believe." 

"I told you, I've can't." 

"No such thing as 'can't'. Just try, right now. Just try." 

"What about the rules, you gave me hell when Jamie and I..." I was fumbling for an excuse. 

"I think we can make an exception this time." Replied Nigel, a hopeful smile on his face. 

I caved in. I looked down at the floor again and closed my eyes. I tried to picture Jack Frost in my mind, based on Jamie's description, focusing on the white hair, the blue hoodie and the stick. I thought so hard, trying to believe, but when I opened my eyes, it hadn't worked. 

My shoulders slumped and I sighed, shoving my hands underneath my glasses. 

"Come on Jackie, try again." Urged Nigel, his voice still sounding hopeful. 

I took a deep breath, folded my arms, closed my eyes and tried a different approach. 

I remembered the wonder I felt on Christmas day, when I saw what was under the tree. 

I remembered the hope I felt when I was searching for Easter eggs. 

I remembered when I first lost a tooth, the feeling of nostalgia when I looked at the  
tiny tooth in my hand, and the feeling of joy when I discovered the money under my pillow the next morning. 

I remembered when it snowed, and the good times I had with my brother. I remembered the snowball fight I had with Jamie and showing him my powers. 

I remembered how Jamie acted just before I had an argument with Penelope, and how he and Nigel reacted to the empty space by Jamie's bed. There had to be a reason, and the only reason could be... 

I opened my eyes to see a boy, say mid to late teens, with white hair, blue eyes, a blue hoodie and brown trousers with patches of frost. He seemed to be floating in the air, leaning on his staff with a G shaped curve in one end and swinging his bare feet. 

I looked at Jamie and said "You never said that he wasn't wearing any shoes." 

Jamie looked slightly confused for a second, then grinned. Nigel began to laugh as Jack looked a little embarrassed and slightly annoyed. 

"Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun floating in the air right next to you, and that's what you notice?" He asked. 

I shrugged as I began to laugh, something inside me felt lighter. Things could only get better from here. 

Several weeks later I stood in a large forest, quite a ways from home. In front of me hovered Jack Frost. He'd been mentoring me since that night, to help get my powers under control. It was slow progress, but it was progress. 

I planted my feet firmly on the ground, letting ice spread outwards from my feet. I let my hands almost grip the air and pulled upwards, an image fixed in my mind. 

The ice grew higher and became more defined. Based on descriptions from Jamie and Jack, a large ice sculpture of the Guardians began to form, towering over me by several feet. 

After the initial shape had been formed I lowered my arms and began moving them in patterns to get the distinctions. 

I ran around the ice, my arms moving around while Jack flew around the top of the ice sculpture, inspecting it. 

Once I was done I stepped back, panting. Jack did another lap to check and I made the adjustments he suggested. Finally we were both satisfied. 

"Good job kid." 

"Thanks" I panted as I looked at the figures of the Guardians, probably the only time I'd see them, given my age, but I still felt warm from it.


	9. Chapter 8

There was still snow on the ground in February, I don't know if it was the fact that Jack was around more often, but it made things a little better for me. 

Except that school started again. 

Walking home from school in the snow isn't the best, since the bullies have a whole arsenal around them. 

Which included the pair in front of me. I didn't care to learn their names. They weren't important, as much as their actions made them seem to think so. 

"Hey Davies! Enjoying the snow?" asked one of them, throwing a snowball up and down. I  
ignored him and pushed between the pair. 

"Hey don't ignore me!" 

Haven't I since day one? 

A snowball landed on my back as I walked, to which I merely kept walking. 

"Oi, Davies!" 

Why are they still bothering? 

I wondered as another snowball landed between my shoulder blades. 

"Hey, leave her alone!" 

I looked to my right to see Jamie, looking as angry and threatening as any nine year  
could when faced with a pair of guys who had gone through puberty and were on the football team. Behind him were a bunch of other kids who were staring at him, a little confused. I guessed these were his friends from his elementary school. 

"Jamie, don't get involved." I said calmly. I wasn't bothered by these idiots, so there was no reason for him to be. 

He ignored me and continued glaring at the bullies as they walked up to him. 

"Aw, the small fry's trying to protect his girlfriend, is he?" 

Jamie went red with indignation, "She's not my girlfriend!" 

"Yeah, the little loner's never had a friend in her life, it's not like she'll know the difference." One of them laughed. 

"Say, how about we teach both of them a lesson?" 

Realising this could get ugly, I decided that now was a good time for a little rule breaking. 

While they were facing Jamie I used my power to form a snow ball, I then flung it with pinpoint accuracy at the back of one of the bullies heads. 

They both froze and turned as one, to see me throwing another snowball up and down in my hand. 

"So, you wanted a fight?" I asked. 

"You've actually got some guts Davies." One of them growled. "Didn't think you had it in you." 

"Maybe, but I didn't think you'd have so little down below that you'd pick on a kid. So I guess we're learning a lot about each other today." 

The pair of them scowled and took a step towards me as Jamie took a step back. 

I raised my arm to throw the snowball, then yelled loud enough for the kids behind us to hear. 

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" 

I launched by snowball at one of them as people around me screamed with joy and began throwing snow at each other, including some of Jamie's friends. 

The two bullies got doused with snow and I decided that now was a good time to make a quick exit. I wasn't quite ready to join in on a duel school snowball fight. 

I ducked into a gap between two buildings, brushing off the odd bit of snow that had managed to hit me. The gap here served as shortcut home and it was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but they'd either have to be really close or be very attracted to brick wall. 

To my surprise someone else was walking down the alley in the other direction. He was tall, easily around twenty, with dirty blonde hair and black clothes, any normal girl would have probably noticed and cared that he was actually rather good looking, I sort of noticed, but didn't care. 

I was not at all prepared to get even slightly friendly, so I decided the brick wall was more bearable. 

As we came closer I moved slightly towards the wall so that I wouldn't bump into him, only for him to move towards the middle. 

My eyes narrowed, what was he doing? I moved even closer to the wall, my shoulder now running slightly painfully along the brick. 

Finally we got to a meeting point, to which he held out his hand and blew something in my face! 

I coughed and turned away slightly, my back hitting the wall with a thud as my bag was pressed between the wall and my back. 

"W-what the heck man!?" I coughed. 

I looked over to see him just standing there slightly off to my left, smirking as I coughed. 

I looked down at the hand I was coughing into to see black specks all over it. My eyes widened as I realised what it was, and who this person was, a Descendent of Pitch, using black Dream Sand. 

I coughed again as I allowed my power to gather in my hand and flared my fingers to send an ice ball his way. 

Which sailed straight past him. 

He hadn't moved, and I missed, I never miss. 

My vision began to blur as I sent a blast of ice his way, which he didn't even have to dodge. 

I stomped my foot allowing ice to quickly spread and I swept my arms to guide the ice towards him as it formed into spikes. 

In response he took a step backwards towards the other wall and seemed to disappear into a shadow, only to re-appear to my right, just a little too close for comfort. 

At this point my eyesight was fading to black and my arms seemed so heavy. All I wanted to do was... 

Sleep. 

Jamie looked around as the snowball fight began to die down. Snow was plastered to various people, windows and the pavement, but in the snow covered crowd there was one person he couldn't see. 

"Hey, where'd Jackie go?" 

Everyone within earshot just shrugged, possibly because they didn't know who he was talking about. 

He wandered around trying to see if he could find where she went. 

He leaned around the corner to the ally way, which he knew she sometimes used as a shortcut, and his jaw dropped. 

Almost the entire alley way was coated in ice, with spikes near the edge of the ice and what looked like the remains of a burst ice ball by his feet. 

"What happened?" 

He turned around to see Pippa standing behind him. 

"It looks like Jack Frost had a fight." She commented, looking around at the scene. 

"I don't think it was Jack." Said Jamie walking forward. His eyes were drawn to the burst ice ball. 

"But neither of them miss, but it must have been either Jack or Jackie." 

"Who's Jackie?" 

"Someone I know." Jamie bit his lip, unsure if he should tell Pippa about Jackie's ice powers. On one hand he had promised not to tell anyone, but he had no other way of explaining it. 

"Hey, is that someone's bag?" 

Pippa stepped around Jamie and carefully into the centre of the ice, avoiding the spikes  
surrounding it. 

In the centre was a dark green plain backpack, but to Jamie it was a flashing siren. 

"Oh no..." 

With that Jamie sprinted out of the alley and back towards the main part of the town. 

"Jamie? Jamie where are you going?!" yelled Pippa, but Jamie was already gone. 

Jamie scanned everyone he passed, hoping to find a certain large man with craftsmanship skills. 

"Nigel! Nigel!" He yelled, people turning to look in confusion for a second then moving on with their lives. After what felt like hours, but what was probably only half an hour, he ran headfirst into the very person he was looking for. 

"Whoa, slow down there Jamie, what's the hurry?" Said Nigel stepped back to allow Jamie to catch his breath. 

"Something's happened to Jackie!" He cried, trying to pull Nigel back with him. 

"Are you sure?" asked Nigel his face creased with concern. 

"Yeah, follow me!" 

The pair ran back to the alley, with Jamie taking every shortcut he knew, and once they arrived Nigel had a good look at the scene. 

Nigel looked around, accessing the scene carefully, and his frown only deepened when he saw the backpack on the ground. He stepped across the ice and picked up the bag. As he picked it up a small stream of black sand poured off the bag. 

"I see." Nigel said, trying not to let his voice show his worry. 

"What?" asked Jamie, his own worry growing at the older man's vagueness. 

Not looking up from the bag Nigel said. 

"Jamie, I suggest you go home, I'll handle it from here." 

"Huh? But she's my friend!" 

"I know, and I'm sorry, but this is something that you can't help with." 

Nigel gave to bag to Jamie from across the spikes and began to walk away with his phone in hand. It was time to round everyone up.


	10. Chapter 9

I groaned as I came to. It was pitch black, so opening my eyes didn't really make a difference to anything. All I could tell was that my head was level with my body, so I guessed that I was lying down. 

I started to stretch, only to find that I couldn't move, not an inch. I struggled harder to get no result either. 

I started to open my mouth only to find that it wasn't going to work. I leaned my head back, the only thing I could move, and breathed out a sigh through my nose to prevent rising panic. I needed my head clear right now. 

At that moment light filtered into the room from my right. Looking over I saw that a pair of dusty curtains had been pulled aside by something. 

I looked down at my body and saw that I'd practically been cocooned in black sand, which explained why I couldn't move. I assumed that it was also around my mouth, since I couldn't move that either. 

Out of the shadows walked the same guy who'd got me in the ally. 

"Well then, I'm no fan of big villain monologues, so I'll get straight to it." 

I took a moment to be glad that I wasn't going to get bored to death as he leaned over and with a wave of his hand made the sand gag disappear. 

"Where's the Burgess Branch of HOG?" 

"What's it to you?" 

"Shut it smart mouth, where do you meet up?" 

I didn't say anything. 

"Well, say something!" 

I adopted a mocking child's tone, "but you just told me not to." 

"Ha ha very funny. Now take this seriously and answer the question. Where do you all meet?" 

"I don't feel like answering that question." 

Finally his frustration won over and he sent a kick to my side, causing me to gasp in pain and my body to try to curl up. 

"Where do you meet?" 

"You do know torture the worst way- Ooof!" There went another blast of air from my lungs. 

"She never told me that you were a smart ass." He muttered to himself, but not quietly enough for me not to hear him. 

"That's a newly acquired trait, better than panicking huh?" 

"Will you just answer the question!?" 

"I've already told you that I don't feel like it." 

He sighed. "I see that you're not taking this seriously." 

As if on cue the shadows around us condensed and about ten people stepped out of them. 

My eyes widened and my cocky attitude began to fade as I saw Penelope step out of the shadows with them. She seemed to ignore me and focused on the man in front of me. She looked a little different from when I last saw her. Her clothing seemed to fit better, and her hair had been brushed as it hung loosely and wavy down her back. 

"So how about you answer now, smart mouth." 

I had lost all of my retorts and just opened and closed my mouth in panic. Another kick turned that into panicked gasps. 

"Come on, now!" 

I tried to get my breathing and rising fear under control as I fought for an answer. 

"I-I, um." 

My panicked breath had begun to frost the sand beneath my chin and seemed to seep into it, spreading on the underside of the sand. Beneath the sand my hands were being covered in frost, which also spread to the sand. These two things seemed to go ignored by the Descendants of Pitch. 

"Come on, we don't have all day." 

The spreading frost made the sand brittle to the touch. I flicked my fingers underneath the sand, trying to get it spread as fast as I dared on the underside of the sand as I tried to think of something to say. 

"Well, you know what?" said the blonde man, becoming impatient, "You can say it now, or  
we can get it painfully out of you by way of your friend." 

"What the hell are you talking about?" 

"We left your bag behind for your friend to find, so that he would try to find you. Just  
in case this wouldn't work." 

On cue there was a crash downstairs. 

"Derrik, go check it out." Barked the blond one. Derrik, the one to the left of Blondie, nodded and left the room. 

As my ice had almost finished covering the bottom side of the sand, I let some of it trickle out and down the hall. It followed Derrik down the hall and stairs. I was so focused that I barely noticed the sand wrap around my mouth again.  
The ice reached the bottom of the stairs and began to form words. 

Nigel cursed under his breath as he tripped over something yet again. He wasn't usually this clumsy, but in the near pitch dark it very difficult to be stealthy. 

Billy snickered as he walked skilfully around the room, his heightened sense of hearing allowing him to be able to piece together his surroundings by footsteps, and Nigel's tripping. Sally and Tina floated or fluttered high enough above the floor not to trip, so the only real help they provided from navigation was the slight glow from Sally's sand. 

"Hey, there's something on the floor." Whispered Tina, catching the other's attention. 

Sally floated over and read aloud what was on the floor in ice as a scuffling noise could be heard from above. 

"Get out, it's a trap."


	11. Chapter 10

Derrik ran back into the room and slammed the door shut behind, a panicked expression on his face.

"Bad news, it's HOG, and she managed to get them a message." He nodded towards me. 

Everyone turned to me and since I couldn't give a grin, I raised an eyebrow. 

The blonde man turned on Penelope. 

"I thought you said that if she couldn't move then she wouldn't be able to use her powers." 

Penelope shrank back and tried to form a response. 

"I-I." 

As they were distracted I allowed the frost to seep into the front of the sand bonds. The sand became brittle all the way through and all it took was a small burst of power for me to break free. 

The freezing sand shot out in all directions and I leapt to my feet, ready to make a break for it. 

However, all of them made a start towards me and some sent black sand into the door to keep it shut. 

All at once they sent stands of black sand towards my limbs as I sent pillars of ice towards them to pin them to the wall. 

Some managed to avoid that and sent more strands that managed to latch onto me. In response I formed blades on my arms that extended over my elbows to my forearms and began slashing at them 

I spun in a circle, using my own momentum to slash through the sand. They kept trying, and I kept slashing. 

However, while I was fairly fit from my training, I was getting tired, and they were not.  
I managed for a couple of minutes, but some of the strands were getting through. Before it got too far I drew my hands upwards, forming a protective dome of ice. 

I leaned against it, panting as they tried to break through. They wouldn't be able to, this was some of the thickest ice I'd ever produced, it would take half an hour of solid work to get through it. Provided that they didn't all rush at once, in which case it would shatter all too quickly. 

I recovered my breath and stood still, my hands clenched at my sides and eyes closed. I took a deep breath and flung out my arms and opened my eyes at the same time. 

The ice began to crack and then shattered, before the shards hit the ground I sent them flying at all of them. I did my best to aim them at clothing to pin them to the wall, but  
I couldn't help the odd scrape. 

I lowered my arms and assessed the damage I'd caused. 

All of them were pinned to wall in one way or another and were either unconscious from the blow earlier or unable to move from the spikes. 

At that point the sand holding back the door weakened from hardly anybody controlling it.  
Behind it I could hear yelling and my heart rose. 

It was my Branch! 

Suddenly the sand condensed again and there was a whooshing noise. 

I began to turn as a whip of sand wrapped itself around my arm and pulled it away from me, causing me to stumble backwards. Another person had stepped out of the shadows and had begun to attack. 

I still had the elbow blades, so I used them to slice the sand. 

All around me the shadow's condensed and around ten more people stepped out into the room. Some began freeing the others, while others began attacking. 

I continued trying to slash my way through the sand, but more were joining the attack as they were being freed and I wasn't given any time to stop and summon a shield. 

I quickly began to tire again and one of the sand whips latched on and stretched out, rendering that limb useless. 

Quickly each one of my limbs were held taut away from me so I couldn't move them. Several had wrapped around my chest and torso, ensuring that I couldn't move. Once I was in place more sand was wrapped around my fingers so that I couldn't move them to manipulate ice. 

The blonde one had freed himself from my ice and now carefully walked towards me, avoiding the various streams of black sand holding me in place. 

"Well then. Looks like we won't be needing you just now. Let's see if we can't get you out of the way for the minute while we deal with your friends." 

In response I let out a sharp breath, which caused ice to form on his face. 

He staggered back and cursed, trying to pry it off. He stopped when he realised that he couldn't get it off and glared at my slightly smug face. 

"You five, take her back to base. I want a guard on her." 

Five people I couldn't see got handed the sand and I dropped to the floor since no one was holding me up. 

I got dragged across the floor into a shadow. Everything went black and I felt rushing feeling in my stomach that made me feel really sick. 

By the time it was over I felt like I was going to vomit and didn't put up much off a fight as I flung into a cage made of sand. The sand strands were tied to the bars until they were taut and were in such a way so that I was hanging off the floor. 

The door disappeared into the sand and became all bars, and once I'd recovered, all I could do was lean my head back and sigh. There was no sand close enough to my mouth for me to freeze it, so I was helpless now. No doubt if ice began to creep due to my own fear it would get spotted by the person guarding the cage. 

Yep, not much I could do here. 

I leaned my head forward again and got a good look at who was guarding me, and got the surprise of my life. 

"Penelope?" 

She was facing me, but at that moment her gaze went to the floor. 

"I'm not talking to you." 

"Then I'll talk to myself." I decided out loud. "I'm surprised to see you here, but I suppose it's good that you've found somewhere." 

"Exactly. I found people who understand and care." 

My mind went back to earlier, when I'd been bound and still used my powers. She seemed so afraid when she was confronted by Blondie. 

"Do they really? They seemed a bit rough to you earlier." 

"They took me in, which is more than you did!" 

"I would have, if you hadn't tried to hurt my friend." 

"Oh, so it's MY fault is it!?" 

"In a way, yes, but we're both at fault I think." 

She snorted in contempt and folded her arms. 

"Seems like we both have something to learn about social interaction." 

I smiled slightly at that. "Seems that way." 

Silence for a second. 

"How's Jamie?" 

I hadn't expected that question. 

"He's fine, up and running the next day." 

"I never intended to hurt him you know. I've had a lot of practice with my powers, I know where the vital stuff is, and I never intended to seriously injure him." 

"So you did it purposely to make me run away, not because you were jealous or something like that?" 

"Of course I was jealous, but I didn't want to hurt him too badly." 

"The fact you hurt him is still wrong." 

"Do you think I care right now!? What's right and wrong never seemed to apply when I was involved!" 

I blinked in surprise; from that one outburst it seemed that Penelope seemed to carrying as much, probably more, emotional baggage than me. I almost wanted to question what happened, but didn't get a chance as the shadows on the side of the room condensed and a large group of people walked out. 

My mouth fell open as 12 people walked out in groups of three, each carrying a member of HOG in various forms of motion sickness. 

Billy looked the best and was yelling and kicking with all his might, but he couldn't seem to get through the sand. 

Nigel was a depressing sight, he didn't look sick, but he looked like he'd just given up and just let himself by dragged along. 

Tina looked very green in the face, but was still doing her best to weakly fight, even if she didn't dare open her mouth. 

Sally looked the worst. Her blonde hair was stained black in several places and it seemed to be spreading. She seemed to very weak and I couldn't tell if it was from the motion sickness or something else. I couldn't even tell if she was conscious. 

Blondie was the last to go through, flanked by two others and with no ice on his face. The three of them approached Penelope. 

"Any issues with this one?" He asked, nodding towards me. 

"Just a little mouthing off, nothing big." 

"Well, you know what to do to stop her mouthing off again, don't you?" He said, a little irritated. 

She nodded and turned her gaze to my face, her hand waved in front of her, palm facing me. Sand quickly began to form around my mouth, forming a gag. 

I let out a sigh through my nose as Blondie walked past me and Penelope resumed guard duty. 

I could feel panic rising in my stomach and instinctively clamped down on it. I need to keep my head clear if we were to get out. 

Almost as soon as I thought that my mind drifted back to the last time I felt this afraid, I had sent ice all around the room and had turned the chairs to icicles. And no one could stop it without stopping me. 

I could do that again. 

Jack's mentoring had covered controlling my ice when my emotions got out of control, which was mainly breathing exercises he'd picked up. However, right now, I needed to panic. 

I let go of my rigid control and allowed my imagination to go wild. I imagined what would happen if we didn't get out, I'd never see my parents or Jamie again. 

I had no idea where we were, so even if we did get out, how were we going to get home? 

All these questions and more went around and around my head, and the ice began to spread.


	12. Chapter 11 (Warning, one case of swearin

**I would like to say thanks to a new follower, except before I could note down your name, I lost you and an existing follower. So I'd like to say thanks to MysteriousSherlock for sticking with me. Thank you.**

Penelope jumped back as she saw ice beginning to form on Jackie's bonds. She fired her own sand to stop the ice's progress, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect. 

In less than a minute the ice had covered all of her bonds and was making fast progress on the cage. 

Penelope kept on trying to halt its progress with more sand, but nothing seemed to work. 

"Samuel! We have a problem!" She called over to the blond leader as she continued to fire at the ice. Samuel looked over and his eyes widened. 

"Shit." He swore and ran over, adding his own sand to the bonds, which had no effect. 

"Everyone, get over here!" 

There was a rush as around thirty people ran over and began adding their sand to the attack. 

This slowed down the advance of the ice slightly, but it still kept going. 

"Keep trying, we can do this!" Said Samuel, his voice not even shaking from how wrong everything was suddenly going. 

Over in another cage, Billy looked over at the fuss and let out a whoop of joy. 

"Go Jackie!" 

There was a sudden rush of ice that overpowered the black sand and completely enveloped the cage and the floor below. 

The Descendants of Pitch began to back off as the ice spread further, creeping across the black rock of the cave floor. Panic began to spread as one person touched the ice and instantly got frozen solid. 

Everyone ran back screaming at their frozen comrade and Samuel kept on barking orders for them stand their ground, only for him to be frozen. A few others tried to regain order, but they were drowned out by the more hysterical Descendant's screaming. 

And the ice just kept coming. 

"Jackie! Jackie that's enough, you can stop now!" called Nigel, but Jackie didn't seem to hear him and the ice kept on spreading towards their own cages. 

Tina, who remembered last time, quickly realised that Nigel was going about this the wrong way. 

"Jackie! It's okay, everything's going to be alright. I promise!" 

That seemed to get through and the ice's advance stopped inches from their cages. In her own cage Jackie opened her eyes. 

I opened my eyes and saw pandemonium. The Descendants of Pitch were in disarray and were screaming as though someone had been murdered. 

I looked around what my ice had caused and felt a little sick to the stomach. I'd frozen two people. 

I'd never frozen someone before, so I didn't know if I could unfreeze them. 

I tried to ignore the feeling of nausea and turned my attention back to the sand, my ice had completely coated it, turning it brittle. 

I tugged one arm and the sand shattered, landing on the floor in large chunks. I pulled on each thread with the same result and suddenly I felt from my bonds and landed on the floor of the cage, which cracked under my weight and sudden brittleness. 

Brushing sand off my arms I walked over to the wall of the cage and after some consideration, punched it, sending shattered and frozen sand everywhere. 

I stepped onto my ice, naturally being protected from it, as the frozen person to my side gladly wanted right about then. 

Ignoring my nausea about it I carefully examined the ice and sighed in relief when I saw that it wasn't Penelope. It wasn't great that I'd frozen someone, but I felt slightly better knowing it was someone who I could safely not feel so bad about. 

I quickly noticed that the noise had died down and I turned to see that all of the Descendants of Pitch that were still standing was staring at me, their breath visible among the black coloured rocks. Deciding to put on a tough front I stuck out my chin and said. 

"I recommend that you all stay right there, or you'll all become icicles, understood?" 

In one simple movement they all backed off. One brave soul sent a whip of sand my way. In response I formed an ice blade by my wrist and slashed it. As the grains of sand landed on the ice it instantly froze. 

This panic ice was more dangerous than I thought. 

I walked over to the other cages, keeping a close eye on my audience. My ice hadn't quite reached the base of their cages, which was probably a good thing, I doubted that ice discriminated. 

I tapped the bars on each of the cages and let the ice spread to their bonds so they could break out, either by breaking out themselves or just letting the ice do its work. 

Once I got to Sally's cage I tapped the bars and looked in, then felt a ripping feeling in my chest. 

More of her hair had turned black and she was definitely unconscious. She looked so small and frail in there, she was normally strong, so it was weird seeing her like this. 

A humming noise behind me alerted me to Tina's presence and I turned to see her hovering above my ice. Looking at the others I saw that Billy and Nigel had both got themselves on top of the cages. They were afraid of my panic ice as well. 

Without a word Tina flew past me and carefully picked up Sally, the latter's head flopping slightly as she rose off the ground. I had seen that these two were close, but I could see a look on Tina's face that almost bordered on motherly love and concern as she picked up the limp Sally. 

A ripple of gasps came from the crowd behind us. Looking behind me I saw that they were fixated on something a little above us, but when I looked up I saw nothing. 

"Oh crikey." I heard Billy say. Looking over at him I saw that he was staring at the same spot. 

Nigel and Tina also looked up and their faces paled. 

"What? What is it?" I asked, glancing between them. 

"I think you should be glad that you can't see this one Jackie." Said Nigel, with a slight shake in his voice. That was worrying, I'd never seen Nigel scared before. 

What was making everyone so afraid? 

Beside me Tina recoiled and Sally shuddered as if faced with a sudden cold and more of her hair went black. 

"What's happened to her?" I asked. 

"She's been contaminated by the black sand." Tina said simply. That explanation didn't quite make sense, but I didn't think that now was the time to for a better explanation. 

"Well, what can we do?" 

Tina only shrugged, her face going even paler. 

I heard a gasp from Nigel I turned and saw that black sand had covered the ice sculptures and the area went them. Once the sand fell away Blondie and the other person were free of the ice. 

They looked around in confusion and then bowed to the same spot. The rest of the Descendants followed in suit. 

A small gust of wind behind me told me that Tina had taken to the air with Sally in her arms. She had the right idea, our captors were distracted, so now was a good time to escape. 

I looked over at Nigel and Billy, then raised my arms to form a safe ice bridge for them to walk across while everyone else was distracted. 

"Sir! They're escaping!" 

So much for that idea.

**Feel free to try and guess who it is that Jackie can't see. You get cookies if you do (::)**


	13. Chapter 12

**Well, no one guessed, so I get to keep all of the cookies! Ahhaha!**

Nigel and Billy looked over at where Blondie was, then began running as fast as they dared on the ice.

"Jump and skate!" I cried. 

They looked confused, but jumped as I asked. I formed ice skates on their shoes and as they landed they were able to skate away. Initially they wobbled, but they quickly got the idea. 

I guided the ice bridges to the other side of the cave with careful fingertip and hand movements, to where there seemed to be light. All the while ignoring the various shouts from the Descendants of Pitch as they either gave each other orders, were freaking out or trying to distract me, I don't know. 

Once they started to send sand weapons my way I moved my hands upwards to form a wall of ice a few metres ahead of the existing ice to block them out. The ice swirled upwards in fernlike patterns in less time it took to blink, becoming solid and thick as it rose up. 

In the corner of my eye I saw Tina follow the others over the crowd, Sally held carefully in her arms. Once I'd lost sight of them I let the bridge drop and the ice skates melt. 

With them hopefully out of harm's way I set up my own ice bridge and skates. 

I powered over the crowd after the rest of my Branch. Sand managed to break through the ice in front of me and I had to jump over it to avoid it. Not far in front of me I could still see the others, who were just standing or hovering in the same place; why hadn't they left? 

More sand in various threatening shapes came my way, distracting me from the others. I kept using my now trusted ice blades on both my wrists and my upper arms to slice away the sand as I skated. 

As I reached the others I quickly noticed why they hadn't left yet. 

The exit was how knew how many feet above them through a vertical tunnel. Through it I could see the dying sunlight as the sun went down, how long had I been unconscious? 

Once I arrived Nigel began to bark out orders. 

"Tina, take Sally up there. Billy, can you get up there on your own?" 

Billy shook his head, "No chance mate." 

"Okay then, Jackie, see if you can form a way a way up." 

I nodded, stamped my foot and flared out my fingers, forming ice and sending it up the shaft, forming a bridge on the way up. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the ice, moving my arms in circular motions to make it spiral its way upwards until I felt it come into contact with flat ground. 

I could hear the Descendants of Pitch had started coming towards us, so I used the ice that was already on the ground and put up another ice barrier. Since I didn't have to summon more ice from the ether this barrier went up even quicker than the one earlier. 

When my full concentration was brought back down and I opened my eyes, I saw that Nigel and Billy had already taken to the ice. 

I sighed and flared out my hand to form skates beneath them so they could get out faster.  
Tina had already started her way up as I also began formed skates, but something seemed to snag her leg. 

She looked down and screamed. 

"Let go!" 

She looked down at me as her leg was pulled away from her. By what I couldn't tell, but whatever it was seemed to really scare Tina. 

"Jackie, do something!" She screamed at me. 

"What!? I can't see what's happened!" 

"It's Pitch Black!" 

Pitch Black, I knew that these were these were the Descendants of Pitch, so Pitch must be... 

I went back to a month ago in the hospital room. 

_"...of Pitch, or the Bogeyman as you probably know him"_

My memory skipped forward to the subsequent meeting which had previously been shoved to the back of my mind. About Pitch Black and his Descendants. 

A shiver went down my spine. Of course, it made so much sense. As my mind lost its confusion I saw the thick strand of black sand wrapped around Tina's leg, and at the other end I could see who was controlling it. 

A tall, lithe man in a black robe slicked back black hair and an almost bored expression was the one holding Tina in place. The Bogeyman himself, Pitch Black. 

I ignored the now yelling crowd as I formed a thin, triangular blade of ice in the air with a flick of my hand. I caught it and held my arm back to throw. And hesitated. 

Normally I had pinpoint accuracy, I had never missed. Except today. 

Before today I would have been confidant about not missing, but the fact I'd missed when I was first attacked had knocked my confidence. 

"What are you waiting for?! Throw it!" Tina screamed. 

My eyes flicked between her and Pitch. I had to do something, so I took a deep breath, narrowed my gaze so all I could see was the black sand, and threw the blade. 

It sailed through the air and sliced through the sand. The blade was so thin that it went  
out the other side of the sand and shattered against the rock wall. 

Tina instantly flew towards the hole in the ceiling and I followed behind, skating more desperately then I'd ever had to before. 

I quickly caught up with Nigel, Billy had taken to skating quite well, so had powered ahead. I stayed stuck behind Nigel as we worked our up. 

I heard a yell from below and looking down I could see Blondie flying up towards us, joined by a few of his fellow Descendants below him. 

"Hurry up!" I cried. 

"I'm not as good at this as you are, you know!" Nigel retorted, the stress biting his words. 

I extended my power to his skates and began to control them, holding my hands out towards them. 

"Sit back and relax, I've got this." 

I sent him skating faster than he ever could normally and we shot out of the top of the hole, skidding to a halt on the surface. We had appeared in a wood it seemed and we were surrounded on all sides by trees and February snow. 

We moved away from the hole as Blondie rose up on a stream of black sand along with a few of his fellow Descendants, who spread out in a line in front of the hole. 

Nigel turned to face Blondie and drew something from his coat. They looked like a pair of gold coloured metal tubes, but his fingers moved across them and a pair of curved blades appeared from one end and shallow arches appeared around his fingers. In less than a second he had a pair of cutlass like swords. 

"Where were you keeping those!?" I asked. 

"I'll explain later." 

"ATTACK!" yelled Blondie, with fury in his eyes. 

Blondie's lackeys went straight for us, some more charging straight up from the hole to attack. Pitch had also appeared and hovered by Blondie by the hole, not trying to intervene. Pitch almost seemed ready to leave, but at the same time curious about the events happening around him. 

"Tina, get Sally out of here!" Cried Nigel, looking up at the pair. 

I didn't hear a reply, but suddenly we were even more outnumbered. 

My attention quickly moved away from them as a pair of Descendants headed for me. They looked nothing alike, one being slim and tall, the other more heavyset and bulky, but they still looked threatening with their mace and knife made from black Dream Sand. 

I whirled to dodge their sand weapons and danced backwards, drawing my arms right back. I then brought them back forward with a clap, sending an ice blast at them which sent them flying and caused their weapons to disappear. The ice blast quickly turned into ice shards, pinning them to the ground. 

I doubled over, panting. That blast was more powerful than I thought, and now my stamina was paying the price. 

Another Descendant had noticed what happened and charged at me, blasting sand into my stomach with great force. The attack was so strong that I was lifted into the air and flew back several metres, slamming into a tree. 

The air was knocked out of my lungs and I fell forward onto my hands and knees, coughing and gasping as I tried to get my breath back. 

"Well, that was surprisingly easy." The Descendant said as she walked towards me, she had a similar body type to Pitch, but her long hair seemed to shine purple in the dying sunlight rather than suck it in and stay black like Pitch's seemed to. 

I clenched my fist and let ice form around it, forming a kind of ice glove. 

I looked up and drew my fist back, then flung it forward so that ice flew off my fist and hit her in the stomach. 

She doubled over gasping as I got to my feet, still gasping for breath myself from my ice blast and getting flung into a tree. 

I stamped my foot into the ground letting the snow turn to ice and let the ice spread around the pair of us. It reached Purple Hair and covered her feet with ice, preventing her from moving any closer. 

She formed a knife from sand in midair and threw it at me. I was too close to be able to dodge in time and it sliced through my left arm. 

I screamed in pain and clutched my arm as warm blood spilled out of it, staining my coat. 

I felt anger rising, so I removed my hand and l flung it in her direction sending another blast of ice at Purple Hair, knocking her backwards so hard that her feet broke free from my previous ice. 

She landed on the other side of the clearing with a thwumpf into a pile of snow. I moved the snow away with a sweep of my arm to see if she was still conscious. 

In answer she staggered to her feet and sent a barrage of sand knives my way, which I dived backwards into the remaining snow to avoid. 

I used the surrounding snow and sent another blast her way, using my jump to my feet as leverage to set off and increase the power of the blast. She flew backwards and slammed into a tree, her head going back from the impact. 

She slid down it and landed in the snow face first. She didn't get up. 

I checked the snow around her mouth and gave a small sigh of relief to hear that she was breathing, ignoring the slight red stain in the snow around her head. 

I looked over at the others to see that they had finished fighting the Descendants, and we had won. I walked over to them to get out of there, when I heard a familiar rushing noise and a yell. 

An apparently furious Blondie decided to enter the fray


	14. Chapter 13

Blondie launched a wave of black sand our way, covering the whole clearing. Pitch still stood aside, choosing not to get involved. 

I stomped my foot to spread ice and threw up an ice barrier in front of all of us before it hit, and when it did hit the force behind it was incredible. I strained to hold up the barrier, giving out grunts of exertion. I could only use one arm to keep it in place, as the other one was useless. It dangled by my side, blood trickling down the length of it and into the trampled snow. 

Finally the wave subsided and I let go of barrier, but allowed it to stay up. I was breathing heavily from the effort, but was still standing. 

Billy leapt on top of the barrier and flung a boomerang towards Blondie as I sent my own ice blast over it, just behind the boomerang. 

He blocked the boomerang easily but got hit by my ice. He fell back slightly and sent a drill of sand through my barrier, which I had jump away to avoid as it went past, sending curls of ice everywhere and leaving a hole roughly the size of a guinea pig in it. 

"You don't seem to get it. Your little Branches are so fractured, that you can be taken out quite easily." Goaded Blondie. 

"Whilst we stand together, as we should!" 

As if on cue a wave of black sand came up through the hole, other bursts of sand joined it from all around us, forming a tidal wave of sand towering above us. 

I didn't have time to repair my barrier and the sheer force of the second wave would have been too much for me to hold back. All I could do was brace myself as it came towards my barrier. 

The sand hit hard and flung itself straight through the hole like a fire hose, but the pressure quickly spread. My barrier shattered and sent sharp shards of ice towards us along with sand. 

I hid in the snow as the sand tried to pluck me from the ground and into the air, using my power over the surrounding snow to hold me in place. Finally the sand stopped and I cautiously lifted my head out of the snow. 

The snow around me was stained black from the sand and red with my blood. By Blondie hovered his fellow Descendants, even the ones we'd downed had joined him. I saw Purple Hair looking a little dazed and with some blood on her forehead, but was still standing. 

I looked around my side and saw that Nigel and Billy had been tossed aside like toys and now lay on the other side of the clearing, not moving. Looking at them I felt the stirrings of anger and more than a little fear, they were grown men, and they had been beaten so easily. 

I got on my shaking feet and clutched my arm to try and stop it bleeding, trying to ignore the trickles of blood going through my fingers. 

"Well, looks like this particular pig has been slain." Said Blondie with a smile in his voice. 

I looked up and felt pure rage, more pure than several months when I lashed out at Penelope. My teeth clenched and my fist gripped my bad arm harder, squeezing more blood out of it. The pain only increased my anger, and I began to see red. 

The wind began to whip around me and snow began to gather around me, tossed into the air by the wind, to the point where I couldn't see much beyond the flying snow and ice. I could hear a roaring that seemed to be coming from close by and far away at the same time. It took a few seconds for me to realise that I was yelling wordlessly. 

What I could see beyond it was the Descendants of Pitch taking a figurative step back. 

"Jackie stop!" 

A part of my mind registered that Penelope was pleading, pleading for me to stop what I was doing, but my actions were now beyond my conscious control. 

I sent a blast of ice and snow so powerful that letting it off sent me off my feet, flying backwards by about 2 metres and landing on my back. Halting the roar for now. 

It slammed into the Descendants of Pitch and Pitch himself, sending over half them back down the hole and some of them flew past that and across to the other side of the clearing. Once they landed it was clear that the blast had sent shards of ice into various parts of their bodies and the snow on that side had started to stain red. 

Pitch himself and a few others were still standing, although once again Pitch was on the sidelines, looking almost surprised at the sheer ferocity of the attack. 

My power and anger hadn't finished with them though. Another maelstrom of snow and ice formed around me as I shakily got back to my feet, the roar seemed to have disappeared for now. 

"Stop it! You've done enough!"Screamed Penelope. 

"JACKIE STOP!" 

The fear in her voice stabbed my heart like a knife and I regained control. The storm died down around me, the snow settling back on the ground in large drifts and the ice either softening and becoming snow or going to hang from skeletal tree branches. 

I looked around at what had caused her to be so afraid, and saw the icicles sticking out of several motionless chests on the ground on the other side of the clearing. I didn't need to see the red coloured snow to know that they were dead. 

I took an involuntary step back in horror, my voice trying to make excuses. 

"No. I-I didn't mean..." 

I looked at Penelope's face and saw the fear and horror in it. 

It translated into my own, which quickly rose up inside me until it reached breaking point. 

Another flurry of snow and ice formed around me as I screamed. 

A loud high pitched scream shot Nigel and Billy from their exhaustion and they got to their feet to see what was happening. 

In front of them seemed to be a concentrated ice and snow storm, while several feet in front of it stood Blondie and about ten of his fellow Descendants who looked nervously at it. One of them showed utter terror and Nigel quickly put a name to the face. Penelope. 

Pitch was still around, still looking from the sidelines; although his face had turned into a half sneer half grin at the panicking Jackie. 

Behind Blondie lay about half a dozen bodies, each of them had several icicles sticking out of vital parts and they weren't moving. The snow around them had been stained bright and dark red from their icicle injuries. 

It didn't take genius to work out what had happened. 

"Jackie!" called Nigel. "It's okay, you can stop. Everything's going to be fine!" 

The storm didn't stop, in fact it seemed to expand. The blonde boy, who Nigel remembered being called Samuel opened his mouth. 

"RETREAT!" 

The remaining Descendants of Pitch leapt down the hole with their powers with Pitch looking on, whose face had turned from his half sneer to a little surprised at the turn of events. He then shook his head and disappeared into the shadows, heading to who knew where. Penelope was the last of the Descendants to go for the hole, but as she looked back at the storm, she did something that stunned Nigel and Billy. 

She turned around and went into the heart of the storm. 

Penelope used her sand to act as a knife to cut her way through the thick flurries of snow to get into the heart of the storm. Shielding her eyes she made it to just outside the centre, where she could see Jackie curled up into a ball with her hands over her ears. 

"Jackie! I'm sorry! I really am! You need to stop now, before anyone else gets hurt trying to help you!" 

A sob wrenched itself from Jackie's mouth and the storm remained just as strong. Penelope struggled to stay in place as the wind tore at her, but she used her black sand to hold herself in place. 

"Jackie! Please! I'm sorry for what I did. You don't need to do this. I'm scared!"  
The storm seemed to intensify. 

"I'm scared for you! You have to stop this! PLEASE!" 

That seemed to finally get through to Jackie and the storm subsided. As soon as Penelope could see clearly she leapt away and down the hole. 

I breathed heavily as my power let go of its hold on me and the snow fell to the ground again. 

I felt absolutely shattered and emotionally drained. I couldn't even bring myself to cry anymore as I lay in the snow, too tired to even try to stand up. 

I felt myself being picked up out of the snow and I could hear the voices of Billy and Nigel, but what they were saying didn't mean anything to me, and I slowly passed out.


	15. Chapter 14

I came to slowly, I didn't know exactly where I was, but I felt warm, uncomfortably warm.

I opened my eyes and looked around blearily, I seemed to be a sofa in someone's living room. 

Right next to a roaring fire. 

"Gah!"

I jumped up and untangled myself from the blanket, suddenly feeling very wide awake. I ignored the sudden pain in my arm, back and side as I dropped behind the sofa, away from the fire. 

I really, really, didn't like fire, an ice power thing I suppose. 

Behind me a door opened and out walked Nigel, and Nigel. 

After a few seconds of staring I quickly realised they were just twins. 

"Oh God, there's two of you." I croaked, my throat's soreness taking me by surprise. 

They looked at each other and chuckled. 

"Hey Jackie." I assume it was actually Nigel who stepped forward and started helping me up. 

"What was that about? I'm glad you're up but are you really that shaken?" 

"There's a fire. I don't handle fire very well." 

The other one slapped his hand to his forehead. "Of course, ice powers!" 

"Ah yes, Jackie this is my brother, Alec. We're at his house." 

I raised a hand in greeting "Hey there." 

"Anyway, let's get you back on the sofa-," He saw my face and nodded. "The one furthest away from the fire, not all of us are sensitive to heat." 

I gently pulled myself from Nigel's grip and walked worryingly slowly to the other sofa.  
I plopped myself down and Nigel threw me the blanket, which I tucked around myself. He sat on my original sofa and Alec went to an overstuffed armchair. I couldn't help but look around at the living room, there were several strange things scattered around, most of them hanging from the ceiling. 

Several of the ones hanging from the ceiling seemed to be models of winged animals, pegasi, a winged wolf and even stranger, a rabbit. The wings seemed the right size for them to actually be able to carry the models, and they looked so life like that I had a hard time believing that they weren't flying by themselves. 

"How are you doing? We've seen to your arm, but how are things?" Asked Nigel, drawing my attention away from the ceiling. 

"I feel weird, tired, but not tired." I said, rubbing my throat. 

"Well, it was one hell of a snowstorm you had going on, and from looking at the rest of the clearing that wasn't all you did." 

I flinched when I thought back. All of those people. 

"How many?" I asked, not really sure whether or not I wanted to know the answer. 

"About six or so." 

"Or so!? How can you be so calm about it!? Those were people! People that I..." 

"I know, and I can't say I understand how you feel, but we can get someone who can talk to you. Members of HOG have a wide variety of professions after all." 

I got what he was hinting out. 

"You think I'm crazy?" I asked bitterly. 

"No, but you'll probably need help after that, otherwise you'll just bury it again, and we know how well that went last time." 

Alec let out a whistle, "Well, sounds like things got interesting when you came along. I kinda wish my Branch has a Frost Descendant." 

"You mean you don't?" I asked, glad to get to another subject. 

"Jack Frost hasn't been around as long as the other Guardians, as a result his line hasn't gone as far as the others, so there are fewer of you around. I also imagine that with a power this dramatic, they'd be really good at concealing it, making you lot even harder to find." 

"We're getting off topic." Said Nigel, which sent a knot of dread to my stomach. 

"I'd like to know what happened. The last thing I remember was your ice wall getting overwhelmed, next thing I know you're screaming." 

I looked down. "I just got angry. Jack has been working with me to keep my powers under control, and I can now, most of the time. Frost doesn't form anymore when I get freaked out.  
But then, today, I just, I don't know, I lost it completely. It seemed to be the largest blast of snow and ice I'd ever made. I only stopped because Penelope screamed at me to stop. She sounded so scared, so I got control and had a look, and then..." 

"Then you really freaked out." Nigel finished. 

"Exactly." 

"You know Jackie." Said Alec, "Nigel's been telling me about what happened, but something he hasn't told me, how you managed to calm down in the end." 

I gave it some thought, and once again Penelope's voice came back to me. 

"I heard someone, I think it was Penelope. Given what was being said, it would make sense for it to be her." 

"Why would she do something like that?" Asked Nigel, "She's a Descendant of Pitch!" 

"She said she was sorry, so I guess she really just wanted to apologise, I don't know, but there's more to her than we know." 

Nigel sighed, clearly still unconvinced. "It's great that you've still got hope for her, but you've got to remember where she's aligned herself. She's our enemy now, and no amount apologies are going to change that." 

"Hmmm." It was my turn to be unconvinced. 

Suddenly my eyes widened when I remembered someone. 

"What happened to Sally?" 

Nigel and Alec looked at each other worriedly. 

"It's not good news." They both said at the same time. 

"We brought her to our Descendant of Sandman, and he did what he could, but she's still out." Said Alec, not meeting my eyes. 

"But, what happened back there? Tina said something about being contaminated...?" 

"Okay, you see, the power that Sally has is to do with dreams, good dreams. The Descendant's of Pitch on the other hand, deal with nightmares. Since both of their powers to a similar thing, but at the same time a very different thing, each side can influence the other if their powers connect with the body of someone of the opposite power." Said Nigel. 

"Usually, if it's one on one, nothing happens, because the powers cancel each other out, it can be the same with a two on one, depending on how powerful each side was." Finished Alec. 

Nigel then sighed, "But so many of them were going for Sally, their power overtook hers and..." He paused to put his head in his hands, after few a seconds he collected himself. 

"She's dying." 

"Dying!" I cried in shock, straining my already sore throat to the point of coughing. 

"I'm afraid so. The only way to save her now is to get a really powerful Descendant of Sandman, or heck, even the Sandman himself, however, both options are unlikely to happen." 

"No..." 

I pulled my knees up into my chest and tried not to cry. Out of everyone at HOG, I felt the closest to Sally, she just seemed to understand things, without them necessarily being said. 

"Tina's the most upset. They came together those two, childhood friends apparently." Finished Nigel. 

"Poor Tina." 

An idea began to form in my head, an idea that might just work if I could pull it off. 

At that moment the doorbell rang. 

"Ah" said Alec getting up, "that'll be your parents, we let them know you were here. They were really freaked when Jamie told them what happened." 

He rounded the corner to get the door. 

"How did Jamie know?" I asked Nigel. 

"He found the scene first, then went to go find me when he knew it was you." 

I smiled, glad to hear that he was alright. 

"They were going to use him as a persuading tool." I blurted out, "So I'm glad it was you guys, rather than him. I mean, you guys can handle yourselves..." 

"I'm glad it wasn't him too." Nigel agreed. "With the Guardians he'd be fine, but we wouldn't be able to protect him." 

At that moment my parents ran in and pulled me into a hug. I winced as their too warm arms wrapped around my injuries, but I decided that I didn't care. 

They angrily questioned Nigel why I was all the way out here and he ended up having to explain about HOG and the Guardians. At first they didn't believe him, but Alec and I spoke up and I explained what's happened. They were at first horrified about happened (and I didn't even tell them about my body count) but I talked them down. HOG was important for me to get some control over my power. 

Finally they agreed that things wouldn't change, but got Nigel to promise to tell them when something was happening, which he agreed to. 

We got home late at night, too late to go and meet Jack, so my idea was going to have to wait until morning, if it wasn't too late.


	16. Chapter 15

**Before we get started, I'd like to thank avathtimelord for following the story. So, thanks!**

**Now, on with the show.**

The next morning I went to the lake to wait. My side was lined with bruises, my back was slightly bruised and there were stitches in my arm, done expertly by Alec. I had a bag of food for the day, since I didn't know exactly when Jack might show up.

I sat in the usual tree and waited. 

"Jackie!" 

I looked down to see Jamie below me. He scrambled up the tree and hugged me. I wish people would stop doing that. 

"Careful! Bruises there." I gasped, my throat had recovered, but I had hoped to rest it for a while. 

"Sorry, but what happened?" He asked, pulling away and sitting more comfortably on the branch. "Even Jack was worried, he came to mine last night when he found your place was empty." 

I explained what happened to him, with his eyes growing wider and wider each minute. When it got to my freak out I paused, I didn't want to tell him that I'd killed. 

"Then what happened?" He asked. 

"Well, um..." 

He peered around to look at my face. 

"I know that look, something really bad happened, didn't it?" 

"I..." 

"It's okay, you can tell me." 

"I flipped out. More powerfully than I ever have. I blasted Pitch and his Descendants with snow and ice. Some blocked it, others were knocked aside, others well, well." 

I sighed and just said it. "They had icicles in their chests." 

"Oh, oh no." 

I shook my head in an attempt to dislodge the image of motionless bodies surrounded by red snow. 

"Yeah, and after that..." 

I finished telling the story with waking up in Alec's house and my idea to save Sally. 

"Oh, so that's why you're out here." 

"Yeah, it's a long shot, but I hope it'll work." 

"Can I wait with you?" 

"If you want." 

We waited for hours until the sun had set. Then out of the dark came a figure of blue and white. 

I nudged Jamie awake and we jumped down from the tree to meet Jack. 

"Hey you two! Jackie, what happened to you? I wasn't sure if you were back yet, but I came to check." He said as he landed. 

"I'll explain later, right now I need your help with something." 

"What?" 

"How well do you know the Sandman? Outside of Guardian stuff." 

"Well, I often see him doing his work, why do you ask?" 

"Sally, Sandman's Descendant, has been 'contaminated' by black sand. Other Descendants  
have done their best, but apparently we need either a really powerful Descendant or the actual Sandman, otherwise she'll die." 

Jack's face grew serious as he caught on to what I was asking. "Alright, he won't be here for a few hours, but we can go looking for him. Reckon you can keep up with me?" 

"I can try." I turned to Jamie. "You wanna come?" 

Jamie nodded excitedly, a grin plastered on his face. 

"Alright, skates on." 

I formed an ice bridge and Jamie and I jumped to allow skates to form. Jack took to the air and we followed. 

Jack easily pulled ahead of us, but a quick control change on the skates allowed us to catch up. 

We flew by the world, I didn't care that there was a chance we could be seen, we were moving too fast and I melted the bridge behind us. We didn't leave the state, heck we didn't leave the county, we weren't travelling fast enough to be able to search a whole continent. 

It became late and we hadn't found him yet, panic rose but I kept a lid on it. 

Finally we were circling back to Burgess when we saw golden light coming from the sky. 

"That's him!" Cried Jack. He turned to me. "Are you sure about this? I thought you said there were rules...?" 

"I have a habit of breaking them, and I would class this as a dire circumstance." 

Jack nodded, grinning, then flew up to where the golden sand was coming from, we followed not too far behind. 

Thankfully we didn't go too high and we were greeted by a small floating man standing on a platoon on golden sand, with more of the stuff coming from his finger tips. He almost seemed to be wearing golden sand as robes and his yellow hair was standing up in huge spikes. 

"Sandy!" called Jack as we approached. The Sandman turned and waved, not seeming to mind that Jack had brought company. 

"Sandy, this is Jackie, and you've met Jamie." 

I glided to a halt on the ice and got straight to it. 

"Mr. Sandman, we really need your help." 

We explained the situation to him and he nodded, his face serious. 

"So you'll help?" 

He nodded again. 

"Great! Follow me." 

I set off at a cracking pace, allowing my power to control the skates than my own leg power, the former was faster. 

"Slow down Jackie!" 

I looked over my shoulder to see Jamie was struggling to follow me. I sent my power to his skates and he caught, skating beside me. 

"That better?" I asked. 

He nodded in answer as Sandman and Jack came alongside us. With that I powered on towards Sally's house. 

I had been told the address of every member of my Branch of HOG, so it didn't take long for me to get to Sally's. 

We stopped by the upstairs windows and we looked in. 

Inside the side window was Sally and Tina. Sally was still out cold, with patches of black in her hair. Tina was sitting next to the bed, her back straight as she kept vigil over her friend. 

I carefully knocked on the window. 

Tina started and looked over, her eyes went wide and she ran over to the window and pulled it open. 

"What on earth are you doing?!" She hissed, "It's the middle of the night! What if someone sees you?" 

I shrugged and moved to the side to reveal the Sandman. 

"I brought help." 

Her expression softened. "Come in." 

I grabbed the top of the window frame as she moved away and swung myself in. I helped Jamie in as Jack and Sandman floated in. 

Sandman floated over to Sally's bed and I felt a small amount of relief as I saw her chest rise and fall. She was still alive. 

"How is she?" I asked Tina. 

"Nothing's changed; she's been like this since the attack. The only difference is the hair." 

She sighed and looked over at me. 

"How about you? I heard stories from Nigel and Billy." 

"I don't want to talk about it right now." 

Her eyebrow raised and she looked at me with a knowing look on her face. 

"You freaked out again didn't you?" 

"Maybe." I responded, shoving my hands in my jeans pockets. 

Before she could reply a golden glow caught our attention. Sandman had grasped Sally's head and golden sand seemed pour from him and onto her. 

His eyes were closed and his seemed to be straining as his sand began to remove the blackness from Sally's hair. 

We waited with baited breath as the black colouring slowly faded, then disappeared completely. 

There was a sigh from Sally and as Sandman removed his hands her eyes fluttered open. 

"What-?" 

"SALLY!" Cried Tina as she rushed over to her bed and gave her friend a hug, causing  
Sally to gasp as the air was squeezed from her lungs. 

I turned to the Sandman, who looked a bit tired, but was overall alright. 

"Thank you, thank you so much." 

Sandman smiled and tipped a hat he formed out of sand. 

"Jackie, Mr. Frost, Mr. Sandman, young man, what are you all doing here, what happened?" 

"I'd like to hear this as well." Said Jack, sitting back in the air. 

Jamie and I looked at each other, then at Tina, who sighed. 

"It's going to get told eventually Jackie, might as well get it over with." 

I leaned back against the wall as everyone's eyes turned to me and I began from the top, again. 

Once again I faltered when it got the point when my wall got broken through. 

"That's when you flipped, wasn't it?" asked Tina. 

I nodded reluctantly. "I just got so angry, Nigel and Billy were down, there were thirty of them, plus Pitch, although he wasn't doing much. I just lost it. I summoned the largest ice and snow blast I think I ever had and sent it right at them, some got blown back, some blocked, the unlucky ones... The unlucky ones got an icicle to the chest." 

There was a collective gasp. 

"S-seriously! Jackie I've been teaching you how to get it under control!" cried Jack. 

"And it is under control, more under control than it ever was, it's just, I've never been that angry before." I admitted, not looking at him. 

Jack sighed and I looked up to see him rubbing his eyes, "You really need more help than I can give you." 

"I'm not denying that." 

Sandman motioned for me to continue the story. 

"I would have done it again actually, if one of Pitch's Descendants didn't freak out. That snapped me out of it, and then I freaked out even further. As in, ball on the ground screaming in horror and miniature snow storm." 

I continued from there, finishing at when we met the Sandman. 

When I was done Sally and the Sandman's mouths were hanging open in an identical manner. At this point Tina took control. 

"Well, we'll have to deal with the rest of this in the morning. Thank you very much Mr.  
Sandman and it was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Frost, but Sally needs to get her strength back." 

"You don't have to call me Mr. Frost." Muttered Jack, but I got the feeling that he quite liked it. 

"We'd better go as well Jamie, both your parents and mine are probably freaking out." I said, moving away from the wall. 

"Didn't they get you a phone for when this happened?" He asked. 

"I turned it off." I replied matter of factly. 

Jamie chuckled, "they're going to be so mad!" 

"I think I can handle it." 

I heard Tina sigh, "Jackie..." 

I turned to her and shrugged. "What?" 

"...Nothing, you'd better get going." 

Jamie and I looked at each other and shrugged, then we left the way we came in with us dropping to the ground below the window. 

"Thank you again Mr. Sandman." He bowed and smiled, then rose into the sky to continue his work. 

"Need a walk home?" asked Jack, "You seem to have a magnet for trouble after all." 

"Thank you for the offer, but I think we'll be fine. See you tomorrow for practice?" 

"Yeah, see you then!" With that he took off into the sky. 

I walked Jamie home and helped him sneak in and after a goodnight I walked home. 

Naturally my parents were mad even when I explained what happened, then they just had a go at me for not telling them. 

I lay in my bed and stared at the ceiling. The vision of the bodies kept running through my mind. I did my best to think of something else but I managed to fall asleep with them still in my head. 

High above the city Jack flew, heading straight for Sandman. 

"Hey, Sandy!" 

Sandman turned and waved. 

"Say, I know you've done a lot today, but reckon you could do _me_ a favour?" 

Jack explained his plan to Sandman, who nodded and gave a thumbs up in agreement. 

"Thanks, this way!" 

Sandman followed Jack to Jackie's place. Looking through her window they saw her tossing and turning. Even though the glass was thick they could tell she was shouting in her sleep. 

Sandman sent his magic through the window and in a golden glow she calmed down. Above her head the sand formed the picture of a snowball fight with a large group of people. 

Something she'd never dared to have.


	17. Chapter 16

Beepbeep beepbeepbeep, beep beep.

I groaned as my phone alert went off. I was having a really good dream as well, about a snowball fight. 

I didn't even look at the caller ID as I picked it up. 

"Hello?" I said a little blearily. 

"Jackie, have you just woken up?" 

"Yes Nigel, I have." 

"Well, sorry to disturb you, but we're having a meeting in a few hours." 

"Alright." 

"I'm letting you know now because it's going to be really important, one of the Heads of HOG will be on a Skype call, we need to explain the Pitch situation." 

"Do I have to tell that story again?" 

"Hopefully you won't have to. See you at one, okay?" 

"Okay, see you then." 

I wandered into the hall at ten to one, fully awake and ready to handle anything. I was really happy to see that Sally was strong enough to come, whatever the Sandman did last night really worked. 

Strangely, Billy was quite subdued. 

"What's up Billy?" I asked, walking over. 

The normally bouncy Australian shrugged. "I'm just a little tense. I'm not good with authority; I tend to get snappy with them. So Nigel pretty much told me to keep quiet during this meeting, so I'm feeling a little down. Not to mention what happened the other day..." 

"Well, after this, go get a coffee; it won't be the same without you zipping about." 

Billy's face broke into a grin, "Me, on caffeine? You might want to break a camera out for that one mate." 

"Will do." I said, smiling. Seeing Billy in good shape, considering what had happened, seemed to put me in a good mood. 

At the front Nigel was fiddling with Skype and looked over his shoulder at us. 

"Alright, everyone pull up a chair and gather round. Jason's on call now." 

I picked up a chair and plopped it by the table with the computer on it. On screen was a man that couldn't look more like the real Santa Claus if he tried. The only real difference was the look of seriousness, rather than the typical jolliness, on his face. Once everyone had gathered he cleared his throat through the crackly speakers. 

"Afternoon everyone. It's been a while since I've seen some of you. And a new face, you must be the Jackie I've heard so much about." 

I nodded, "That's me." 

"That might explain some of your trouble Nigel. All eight of the HOG Branches with Jack Frost Descendants have reported increased activity among the Descendants of Pitch." 

I would have questioned further about other Jack Frost descendants, then I remembered the purpose of this meeting. 

"I'd love to discuss Jack Frost Descendants, but now's not the time." said Nigel, "I'm formally asking for a global HOG meet up." 

"I see, well then. I appreciate your concern Nigel, but relatively few Branches have had issues-" 

"You said so yourself that those Branches all have a Descendant of Jack Frost. I doubt this is a coincidence!" 

"And you're willing to let the rest of us suffer the consequences. We'll the get the Descendants of Jack Frost together if necessary, but I'm not going to let everyone else get involved for the sake of a few." 

"No! Sir, the Descendants of Pitch have always been a cause for alarm. Less than 48 hours ago they orchestrated an attack and kidnapping of everyone in this room, which nearly resulted in the death of one of our members and another has been mentally scarred. I doubt this is the last thing they plan on doing. And last we saw, Pitch himself was with them!" 

"The Bogeyman himself?" Jason seemed alarmed, "I see, that is definitely worrying. I shall consider your appeal and get in touch with the other Heads. Good day." 

With that the call was cut. 

Nigel sat back in his chair and sighed. "Well, the best we can hope for is that the other Heads agree with us." 

He rubbed his eyes wearily. "I'm sorry this has been such a short meeting, I thought it would take longer. I'll call you when he gets back in touch." 

That was probably the least obvious dismissal I'd heard, but the others got to their feet and began to leave. Billy was bouncing up and down. 

"Oh yeah! I hope you're ready with that camera kiddo, because I feel like coffee!" 

"Knowing you I may also need warranty and excellent insurance on that camera." 

Billy only laughed harder. "You know, the dry humour thing really works with you. You look so serious all the time! It's good to hear you lightening up though." 

We walked out of the door and into the streets of town. 

"So, you're serious about that coffee?" 

"Why not? It'll be interesting to watch, wanna get one too?" 

I shuddered, "I'll get a chilled fruit juice if I'm coming with you." 

"Chilled fruit juice?! One, it's freezing, two, that's boring. At least get a soda!" 

"One, I have ice powers, I don't do hot things, two, ice powers are unstable, I dread to think what they're like after coffee, or soda." 

"Alright, still boring though." 

He looked over at where Tina and Sally were walking. "Hey, wanna join us, we're heading for coffee!" 

"Billy on coffee?" said Tina, "That I need to see." 

"I could probably do with a coffee myself." Said Sally, she did look a bit pale. 

We walked together to the nearest coffee shop and as soon as the door closed I took off my coat, the heat too much for me. We were an odd group to be sure; the bouncing Australian, the refined lady, the solemn teen and the quiet smiling woman. 

After a few instances were Billy was being flirted at, we finally got a table and sat down with our drinks. All three of the others had gotten coffee, although we drew the line with Billy on getting shots of espresso, and I sat with my chilled fruit juice. In February. 

"You know Jackie?" asked Tina. 

"Hmmm?" 

"I've been wondering, how much does the ice thing affect you? You're sitting there with a ton of ice in your drink and you're not even flinching at how cold it is." 

I had taken a sip of my juice, then put it back on the table to answer. 

"Well, I can go around in near freezing in a t-shirt. In fact I'm comfortable around 5 degrees Celsius, although I've learnt to tolerate higher temperatures. I don't do hot things very well. Summer is a nightmare for me and open fires, well, even a metre away I feel like I'm burning. It's also why I'm not a fan of human contact, you're all too warm for me. It's not painful, just, uncomfortable." 

As for something like this." I raised my glass. "It's close to neutral or lukewarm for me, without ice this is my equivalent of a hot chocolate. I've also never had brain freeze or been ill in my life." 

"Never been ill?" asked Tina, surprised. 

I nodded, "Yep, I think it's because germs that carry disease work best at normal body temperature, which is not my body temperature. Therefore, I don't get ill." 

"Wow, I'd never have thought that a power could affect you quite so much." She looked over at her back, probably where her wings were. 

"I know a few people who are like that." Added Billy, surprisingly calm, for now. 

"I've met some Descendants who can control plants and in some cases, earth; you do not want to be around them in winter. They are incredibly crabby and tired; they seem to have a connection to plant life in such a way that when the plants are dying, they feel half dead as well. And don't ya get me started on how they react to gardens, it's like a red rag to a bull." 

Tina tapped her chin. "I'm surprised, like I said, I never really thought about how powers could affect a person. Me for example, the only issue I ever had was learning to fly and dealing with having to eat more than the normal person, but those are really the only issues anyone I know ever had." 

A small smile crept across Sally's face. "I knew one Descendant who had a lot of allergies, he couldn't use his powers because he just started sneezing all the time." 

I had to chuckle slightly. "Are those the only problem that you guys have?" 

"Other than a few control issues, yes." 

"Hey, aren't you curious about the other Frost Descendants?" butted in Billy, now looking worryingly hyper. 

"Well, yeah." I admitted, I hadn't really given it much thought, but now Billy mentioned it... 

"You know, if we have an all HOG meeting, you'll get to meet them." 

"We all meet up? Seriously? What about passports and VISA's?" 

"We don't always have to worry about that stuff. If we really have to then we have other ways of getting around. The Descendants of North always have something up their sleeve. Most of them are inventors after all." 

"I've never seen Nigel-." 

"You haven't been to his place! There's half finished projects all over the place and little gadgets dotted everywhere!" 

"He'll never patent them though." Said Tina, "He has too much pride in his work to think that it requires a patent, and he's always said that inventions should be for everyone, not just for someone to make money off. Not all Descendants of North think the same way of course, but it quite a common mind set." 

"Wow." I took a sip of my juice. "So, Tina, are your lot all dentists?" I tried to tease. 

Tina sighed in mock annoyance. "You'd be surprised how often we get that, but yes, a few of us become dentists, but some of us got too worked up and googly eyed over a lost tooth that they can't hold down a dentistry job." 

"What about you?" 

"I may or may not have completely freaked out my classmates in elementary school with my over enthusiasm over baby teeth." 

"That must have been quite a sight." 

"Some of them recovered, to others I was called the Tooth Fairy forever more." 

"That's pretty ironic." 

"I suppose it- Billy, are you alright?" 

Billy was practically vibrating from the coffee and had a huge grin on his face. 

"What do you mean I feel perfectly fine! Hey! Wanna have a snowball fight? There's park nearby come on let's go!" 

He jumped out of his seat and tried to drag us with him. 

"Billy, none of us have finished our drinks yet, be patient." Said Tina. 

"You guys are boring." He sulked, slumping back in his seat. 

"And you're acting like a five year old." Retorted Tina. Sally and I shared 'ouch' looks. 

Billy impatiently waited for us to finish and once the last drop was downed he was up again, practically begging us for a snowball fight. 

Tina and Sally grabbed their coats and I followed unenthusiastically, I was nervous of the idea of a proper snowball fight in the open, and we'd all have to rein in our abilities. My mind went back to my dream last night and I had a light bulb moment. 

"Wait, I know a better place!" 

"You do!" cried Billy excitedly. 

"Yeah, I'm off school because of my injuries, and schools in session now, so they'll be no one else there, we could go all out!" 

"All out huh? That sounds AWESOME!" 

Billy was almost leaping into the air at this point. 

"Come on let's go, show us the way!" 

I waved them along with my hand and in the sudden quiet I heard Tina say. 

"Note, never give Billy coffee again."


	18. Chapter 17

It only took us quarter of an hour to reach the lake and Billy was zipping around with excitement. 

"This place is so cool! Come on I'm ready! Who's ready for a snowball fight?" 

He had already made a handful of snowballs on the way and was holding one in preparation.  
Tina and Sally got down to make snowballs as I raised my arm and ten perfectly formed  
snowballs began floating behind me. 

Billy's eyes went wide and his grin became wider. "Now you're just showing off." 

I grinned in return, "Yep, and there's nothing stopping you either." 

With that, the snow ball fight began. 

Tina, usually uptight, was zipping through the air as quick as a hummingbird as she threw snowballs and laughed. Sally was moving quickly on sand made instruments which allowed her mass produce snowballs and dodge quickly. Billy was jumping from rock to tree, hardly ever stopping except to throw, then he was off again. 

I used my powers over ice and snow to my advantage, keeping a constant barrage of snowballs going and making sure the snow didn't hamper my movements, sometimes skating to move faster. 

"Hey you guys!" 

The shock of another voice almost made Tina drop out of the sky, Billy drop to the ground and Sally's sand to disappear. 

I turned in a full circle with my snowball at the ready, because I recognised the voice. 

"Jamie! Heads up!" 

He looked a little confused until he saw the snowball hurtling towards him. 

"Gah!" 

He took a step back from the hit and brushed the snow off his coat. 

"Hey no fair! You can use your powers to make sure it hits!" 

He looked over at the lake while Tina crept over to me. 

"I thought you said that no one would come here." 

"Jamie's fine, he knows about us and the Guardians, you met him last night remember!" 

"Hey Jackie, who are these guys?" 

I began introductions. 

"Tina and Sally, you met them last night and the jittery mess over there is Billy when's he's had coffee. This is the rest HOG." 

"Where's Nigel then?" 

"I'm not sure, he didn't really want to come I think." 

He looked over at the others. "So you're Descendants of the Guardians right? What kind of powers do you have?" 

Tina looked over me with a shocked expression on her face. 

"Jackie! How much have you told this kid?!" 

"Enough, and Nigel added to it so its fine in his book." 

"But still..." 

She got interrupted by Sally giving a demonstration of her powers, with Jamie ooohing and ahhing. 

"Wow..." 

He quickly went over to Billy. "What about you?" 

"Mine's not as impressive as you're used to. I'm just really good at jumping." Billy said with a shrug. 

"Can I see?" 

Billy looked over Jamie's head at me. 

"You picked a good one here kiddo." He said sarcastically. 

"I, well." I stammered, feeling my face go red. 

Billy ended up obliging and did a few tricks over the rocks and such. Now it was Tina's turn. 

"So you must be descended from the Tooth Fairy right? Can you fly?" 

Tina looked over at me and sighed. Wordlessly she let her wings out and took to the air with a soft hum. 

"Ah wow! You guys are awesome!" 

He suddenly seemed to notice that I still had snow ammo and that everyone else was snow splattered. 

"Were you guys having a snowball fight?" 

"Yeah." I replied, then I raised a snowball threateningly. "Do you want join?" 

"Yeah!" 

I looked around at the others. "Any objections?" 

"None from me." Said Billy, then he grinned, "so long as he can keep up." 

He bounded across the lake as Jamie hurriedly made a snowball and threw it at him. 

"Missed me!" Yelled Billy. 

"Ahem." 

A quiet cough behind us stopped our new fun. 

We turned to see Nigel standing on the edge of the lake, wearing a serious expression and his hands behind his back. 

Without a change in expression he brought his hands round to reveal a snowball. 

"Room for one more?" 

It seemed that today was the day that nobody wanted to come to the lake, so we could be free with our powers and have a proper snowball fight. 

It had gotten dark by the time we all collapsed in the snow, panting and laughing. 

"Hey Jamie, you never said, why did you come out here?" I asked. 

"Well, I was hoping to find you, I thought you'd still be upset about yesterday, so I thought a snowball fight would cheer you up." 

I became a little disheartened as he reminded me what happened, but strangely I didn't feel quite as bad as I thought. 

"Well, you're certainly right about the snowball fight bit." I said. 

Tina got to her feet and began brushing off snow from her clothes. 

"Well, I'd better go. I'm famished after that." 

Sally rose to her feet as well. 

"I second that, see you later." 

The pair walked off and Billy groaned. "I think that coffee's worn off, I've never been so hyper." 

"Was it fun?" I asked. 

"Yeah, but now I feel really drained." 

"Sounds like you need a hand home Billy." Commented Nigel as he got up. "Come on, I'll make sure you get home." 

Billy groaned again, but got up. 

"See ya later guys." 

They walked off as well, leaving me and Jamie in the snow. 

"You going to practice tonight?" he asked. 

"No, I don't feel like it tonight. I just feel like lying here for a while." 

"Hmmm." 

I quickly noticed that Jamie was shivering. I stood up and took off my coat, brushed the snow off and draped it over him. 

"Huh? Won't you be cold?" 

"I have ice powers, it wouldn't do if I got cold easily, would it?" 

"True." 

I lay back again and we stayed in comfortable silence as the stars began to shine and the moon glowed above us. 

"You know, if Jack comes tonight, you'll have to practice." 

"Or we could get him into a snowball fight and say its practice. That's if you're not snowballed out, are you?" 

"Course not! Who could ever be snowballed out?!" 

"That's good to hear." I said, although my eyelids were drooping. 

"Looks like you are though!" Jamie laughed. "I suppose we'll have to have that snowball fight with Jack another time." 

"Shame." I yawned. 

"How about I walk with home with you? You look like you're about to fall asleep." 

"You don't have to; besides, your mum would have my head if you went home on your own." 

"Just this once?" 

I turned my head to face him. 

"You are determined to be a gentleman, aren't you?" 

"Well, that and you look tired." 

"Alright good sir, I accept your invitation." 

We got to our feet and he handed me back my coat. With that we walked back to my house. 

Once in my room I instantly noticed something I hadn't paid attention to earlier. 

On my bedside table was a snowflake made of golden sand. 

I went back to my dream last night and smiled when I realised what had happened. 

Just in case I had nightmares, Jack persuaded the Sandman to make sure I didn't get any. Whilst it might not happen tonight, I was still grateful. 

Just in case they came back I quickly formed a small ice sculpture. 

It read, "thank you."


	19. Chapter 18

For the second day in a row I was woken up by my phone going off. This time I welcomed it, since it appeared that the Sandman had not come back for the second night.

"Hello." 

"Jason says he's made a decision, see if you can get to the meeting place before midday." 

"Got it, on my way." 

The set up appeared to be identical to yesterday, although Billy was looking a bit happy this time, which was a relief, I didn't want to see him with coffee again. 

Nigel called us over as I walked in and the call got under way. 

"I have taken your idea into consideration and brought it up with the other Heads, and we have agreed to your suggestion." Said Jason, a neutral expression on his face. 

Nigel managed to keep a calm demur, despite the massive grin that was forming. 

"Thank you." 

"It'll be held near Edinburgh, since these incidents seemed to involve the descendants of Jack Frost and most of the known ones seem to be in Northern Europe. It'll be on the 3rd of March under a moor to the west of the city." 

"That's not enough to time!" Cried Tina suddenly, "We need to sort out passports, VISA's..." She had seemed to have forgotten our conversation yesterday. 

"You're Descendants of the Guardians! I'm sure you'll find a way there. See you then."  
With that the call disconnected. 

"Aw jeez!" cried Billy, "We get a meeting, but it's too close to be able to get there officially." 

"Then we'll have to do it unofficially." Mused Nigel, "I think I have something in the works that might be able to help us." 

Nigel looked at me, "I'll tell your parents the plan, so you can get time off school, can we all meet at mine on the 1st?" 

We all nodded. 

"What have you got planned Nigel?" asked Sally. 

Nigel smiled and his eyes took on mischievous look, "Now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" 

The next couple of weeks we didn't have any meetings, so we spent our time doing what we normally did. 

All I could think about was the other Descendants of Jack Frost, how old would they be?  
Would they be more powerful than me? How old would they be? Did they also have control issues? Did they all control ice? 

These questions ran rampant through my mind most of the time, only during practice with Jack, school and the newly introduced therapy sessions did they leave, but they quickly returned. 

The therapy was with someone from another HOG branch, she never told me who she was Descended from, but she assured me that I would see at the big meeting. 

Finally the first rolled around. I had a backpack full of extra clothes, my toothbrush, toothpaste and hairbrush. I even had a spare set of glasses. 

I walked over to Nigel's house, snow had finally begun to melt, which didn't really have anything to do with Jack's presence. It was also fairly late so that no one would see us travelling; we'd be travelling by the light of the moon. 

I knocked on Nigel's door, only to be directed through a side gate and into the garden.  
Once in I saw Nigel had been working on. 

In the centre of the garden was a sled, as in a proper Santa Claus sleigh. The only difference was the lack of reindeer and the large, clear dome that covered the top of it.  
The sleigh itself was painted red and decorated with intricate gold leaf designs.  
Reindeer danced on the front, on the left side showed a mural of Sally and I using our powers to form snowflakes. On the right side was Billy and Tina, Tina hovering in the air and Billy crouched diagonally to indicate he was on a slope. 

On the back was Nigel, holding up a pair of crossed swords. 

"Whoah." 

"Impressive isn't she?" asked Nigel a huge grin on his face. "Come on, let me show you." 

We went round to the back and looked underneath. 

"See those round things, powerful thrusters that'll keep us in the air, Oh and round  
here..." We went around to the front and looked in the pilot's seat. 

"Here's the control panel, it has a GPS, steering, thruster adjustment aaand..." 

He reached in and flicked a switch. A compartment shot out to reveal... 

"A snack drawer." 

"Seriously?" I asked looking at drawer, which was full of random packaged food, including but not limited to cereal and chocolate bars. 

"Never worse than hungry passengers, Jackie, nothing worse." 

"Okay, are sure it'll get us to the UK? Aren't there people watching the airspace or something?" 

"Who knows! But even if they are, I'll be relying on you and Sally to help us out of that one." 

"You, know you've been lax about the rules since the first time I broke them." I noted. 

"Well, these have been exceptional and allowed circumstances, after this, we will get in trouble for flying this thing." 

"Whoa, nice ride!" 

We looked behind us as Billy ran in and began inspecting it from every angle. 

"Top notch stuff Nigel, not that I ever doubted ya mate." 

Tina and Sally arrived not long after, and after another tour we were climbing into the bubble sleigh. 

"This dome," explained Nigel, "is here to keep the air and pressure just right, we'll be going high up, and not all of us can breathe above the clouds." 

We made sure that the dome was locked into place and we were sat in our places and buckled ourselves in. Nigel pressed the ignition. 

There was a rumbling noise as we slowly began to lift into the sky. I couldn't help pressing my nose into the clear surface of the dome to watch the ground slowly get further and further away. 

Up and up we went, higher than Nigel's house, higher than the trees. From here Nigel flipped some switches. 

"Alright, everyone buckle up, there no guarantee how fast this baby goes." 

"You mean you haven't tested it?" cried Tina, alarmed. 

"Not this high up! Alright, off we go!" 

There was sudden burst from the back and we shot forward and didn't slow down. 

I let out a small shriek as I was pressed back into my seat. Burgess disappeared in a blur and we were heading high into the sky. 

After a little while we were heading over the ocean at a more reasonable cruising speed. 

Nigel looked over the back of his seat and said with a grin. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we have successfully taken off and expect to be in Scotland within several hours. Feel free to use this time to sleep, chat and eat, just don't get anything sticky on the seats, thank you!" 

I smiled and curled up in my seat, with my bag as a pillow. I was asleep within minutes. 

I slowly woke up as something smelling delicious was put under my nose. 

"Wakey wakey." 

I opened my eyes to see that a plate of bacon was being held by Billy by my nose. 

"Mmmmmm, yum." I murmured sleepily. 

"Well too bad, they're mine!" He cried, leaping back into his seat behind me cackling. 

"Damn it Billy." I grumbled, now fully awake. He chuckled and began eating his bacon as I  
pushed myself in a sitting position, rubbing my stiff neck. 

"Stop teasing Jackie, Billy." Chided Tina. 

"I was only trying to wake her up!" He protested with a mouth full of bacon. 

"And giving her false hope, give her some bacon." Added Sally, with a small smile on her face. 

Billy grumbled and caved to the woman's teasing and passed me a piece of bacon. 

"Thank you!" 

I shoved it in my mouth and began chewing, appreciating the smokey taste, not really caring that it was a little too hot. 

"Sally, Jackie, heads up; we're coming into the UK." 

Sally and I moved to opposite sides of the sleigh and held our hands outward, looking for  
anyone trying to stop us coming in. 

Nothing happened as we glided high over the island. It was early morning there and I could spot tiny ants going about their daily lives. 

It took us about an hour to get to Edinburgh and we came in low over one of the many empty fields. 

"A landing spot, guys!" 

Sally took over and conjured a landing ramp and patch for the sleigh. We came a juddery landing and then to halt, with the sand disappearing once we'd come to a stop. 

"Quick question Nigel." Said Billy after a few minutes, "this is now the second?" 

"Yes." 

"And the meeting is on the third, right?" 

"Yes." 

"So what are we going to do all day?!" 

"There's town within walking distance if you're desperate, but otherwise, sit tight." 

The hyper active Australian groaned and leaned back in his seat. 

"Sally, can you please put me to sleep? I'll go mad otherwise!" 

"And no one wants to be stuck with an antsy Billy." I muttered. 

Sally nodded and complied, sending her golden sand into Billy's eyes and he was quickly asleep. 

And we were presented with a new problem, Billy's snoring. 

"I think I'll go for a walk." I quickly announced, unlocking my part of the dome. 

I looked behind me to see if anyone was going to join me. Tina had brought some ear plugs and had them in her ears and Sally had formed her own earplugs from sand. Looking at the front I could see that Nigel had also managed to fall asleep. 

"Just me then." 

I brought up the dome and jumped through, quickly closing it behind me as I remembered that not everyone behind me was as tolerant of the cold. 

I came back when I was hungry, and realised that I didn't have any UK money on me, so buying food was out of the question. 

Billy and Nigel were still asleep, Tina had a book out and Sally was messing around with her powers. I jumped in and leaned over the front console to get something to eat. Once I had something I was off again. Only returning to the sleigh when it got too dark to see.

**Why bacon?**

**Because it's BACON!**


	20. Chapter 19

**Before we start I'd like to thank AriArlene for following and favouriting. Just, thank you...**

**Everyone have a cookie (::) (::) (::)**

The next morning started a little differently, since Billy had eaten all the bacon yesterday, so we just had cereal bars and things from the snack drawer.

Once we were done I looked out of the window to see something odd. Someone disappearing into the ground. 

"Wha- Did you guys see that?" I asked, a little freaked. 

"See what?" asked Tina. 

"Someone just disappeared into the ground." 

"Looks like everyone's on their way for the meeting." Said Nigel, "They should get to us in 3, 2, 1..." 

On cue the sleigh seemed to literally sink into the earth. I gripped the sides of the seats in panic and looked at the others, but they seemed to be taking the whole situation calmly. 

I settled down in my seat and tried to take it as calmly as them. Quite quickly we were deposited underground with a group of other travelling contraptions. 

The others began unlocking the dome, which I fumbled with to join them, but I couldn't but stare at the other vehicles. Many seemed to be a variation on the traditional Santa sleigh, although I swear I saw something similar to a jet ski and even some kind of jet pack. And... Was that a hovercraft? 

The others seemed to know where they were going, so I followed behind, staring at everything. The cavern was made of light brown rock, which was covered in light green moss. 

It was surprisingly light down here and other people occasionally dropped down from the ceiling and greeted each other. Above us Descendants of Toothiana flew by, talking and laughing over the soft hum and whirring of their wings. 

Another woman who looked a little similar to Tina ran over and jumped at her. 

"Ti!" 

"Hey Lottie." She replied happily, but not as enthusiastically as the pair hugged. 

We kept on walking along and through a tunnel. It became a cacophony of noise as people around me caught up with each other. We reached the end of the tunnel and it opened into a huge cavern. There were hundreds of people milling around, laughing and talking with each other. 

Billy bounded away to talk with other people who all seemed to have Australian accents. Sally rose up slightly and floated over to a group of small blond haired people while Tina got dragged off by Lottie. 

Looking over at where Tina had gone I saw something that took my breath away. 

In the light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere the Descendants of Toothiana really stood out. Their dragonfly like wings caught and refracted the light, sending rainbows everywhere. More surprisingly it wasn't just the clear wings I saw that shone; green, blue and gold feathered wings shone like jewels. 

Among those with feathered wings I could the face of my therapist talking with some people as I passed. I gave her a wave, but she seemed to be too wrapped up in her conversation to return it, her face and eyes alight with excitement. 

Sensing my nervousness Nigel kept by my side and walked me over to a group of people who looked just as lost as I felt. 

"And they, would be the other Descendants of Jack Frost." 

They saw us approaching and sent us warm, if unsure smiles as I had a good look at them. There were a couple of young adults, a pair of male teenage identical twins, an old man, a woman in her fifties, an athletic man whose age I couldn't place, a guy about my age and a young girl who honestly looked about six. 

An interesting bunch to be sure. 

Nigel patted my on the back, "Now, you play nice, I've got some people I want to meet." 

"I'm not a kid Nigel." I called over my shoulder as he walked away. 

"It wouldn't hurt if you started acting like one." He called back. 

Grinding my teeth I looked over at them, and suddenly I felt very shy. 

This was quickly rectified as the young girl ran over to me. 

"Hello." She said brightly with an English accent. 

"Hi." 

"What's your name? I'm Alice." 

"I'm Jackie." 

She gave a grin that could have powered a Christmas tree. 

"Yay, come on, let's introduce you." 

Alice grabbed my hand with hers and for once in my life that hand didn't feel slightly too warm. She dragged me over to the others who all gave me a look that said, "Just grin and bear it". 

The two young adults were Stephen and Mary, the two twins were Jacob and James, the old man was Alfred, the woman was Rachel, the athletic man was Chris and the boy my age was Graham. 

We all seemed to have the same dark hair, pale skin and either dark brown or piercing blue eyes. Only one other person had glasses, although they were sunglasses, which suggested that Stephen was blind. 

We all stood there a little awkwardly as Alice kept on chattering away like there's no tomorrow, but even she couldn't go on forever. 

"So, everyone has ice powers?" I asked hopefully once Alice had run out of things to say, trying to break the ice, haha. 

"Most of us." Replied Stephen, "Rachel and I seemed to have gotten wind powers instead." 

"Really, that's cool." These puns were not intentional. 

Another awkward silence was interrupted by a loud ringing sound. 

We turned to see that a stage had been formed. On the stage were four chairs, three of which were filled by different people, each seemingly Descended from someone different. 

There was a middle aged man with golden hair and an olive face, a young, dark skinned woman with large dragonfly wings held high behind her and a tanned man with dark hair and a warm face. 

At the front of the stage and the owner of the empty seat, was Jason. After the chatter had died down the other three stood up and Jason began to speak. 

"My friends, it is good to see you again. As we had explained in the message that was sent out, we have all gathered to discuss something that concerns us all, the Descendants of Pitch Black." 

I heard a squeak behind me and I turned to see that Alice had clung herself to Rachel. 

"The Descendants of Jack Frost, whom we all heartily welcome, can probably explain in more detail the happenings of the Descendants of Pitch, as each incident has involved them in some way. Only two weeks ago one member and her entire Branch had been captured by their forces, but as you see that they are fine, you'll have to ask them for the story." 

I shifted uncomfortably, that's one story I really didn't feel like sharing. 

The Head Descendant of Toothiana picked it up with a clear South African accent. 

"It is clear to us that they have some vendetta against the Descendants of Jack Frost, but now we must discuss out next course of action. Their numbers are unknown and only two bases are known to us, should we go on the offensive, or shall we make a different course of action?" 

Muttering broke out, which with this many people rose to a deafening roar.


	21. Chapter 20

**Hey there! I'd now like to thank Nico's Girlfriend1 and TooMuchSarcasm for favouriting the story!**

**I think we're going to need some more cookies. (::) (::) **

**There we go, welcome to the party!**

**Now on to the story, just to let you know we are now at the halfway point.**

I looked at my fellow Descendants and saw the same hard expression on their faces, even Alice.

"We should fight." Said Mary. 

"Aye." Agreed Alfred with a thick Scottish accent. "They should pay for what they've done!" 

That was general agreement with the rest of the group. Only Stephen seemed unsure. 

"We shouldn't just rush into this decision; we don't know the number of their force. What do you reckon?" 

He turned his face towards me, which was eerie since I thought that he was blind. 

I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it, for I didn't really have an answer. My hand crept to my arm where I had been sliced, the stitches had come out already, but it had left a scar. 

I knew that something had to be done about them, but every time I thought about it, I heard Penelope's scream. 

I couldn't put my finger on it, but I just couldn't bring myself to hate her, it was just how she acted... And I was getting far off course with my train of thought. 

"I don't know. As Stephen says, we can't just rush into this." 

"But they're mean and scary!" cried Alice, "We need to make them stop being mean!" She stomped her foot and sent ice spiralling out from her foot. 

We backed off slightly. "Take it easy Alice." Said Rachel, leaning down to pick up Alice.  
I quickly got the impression that they were mother and daughter, or at least had that kind of relationship. 

The noise from the rest of the Descendants had begun to grow as people started to shout, but I tried to ignore it as we continued to discuss, not noticing that the roar was getting louder than it really should be. 

At that moment the wall to my right exploded open, sending me staggering back from the noise and debris. 

The other Descendants hadn't noticed it; but my lot did though as black sand began to pour towards us. 

"Get a barrier up!" Yelled Chris and I, then we rushed forward and drew our hands up to get a wall of ice. 

The rest of the Jack Frost Descendants, even Alice ran up in a line and we pulled up a barrier that spanned the whole room and reached the ceiling. Each of us easily covered a distance of 20 metres or more each. 

Stephen and Rachel had stepped back, realising that their wind powers weren't suited to this situation. 

Silence fell as the rest of the Descendants quickly saw what was happening. 

Jacob and James yelled back at them simultaneously. "Don't just stand there! Give us a hand!" 

About fifty Descendants of Bunnymund ran over and raised their hands. Just in front of us a wall of earth formed, taking the pressure of us. 

I relaxed a bit. 

"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder. 

Because there were more Descendants of Bunnymund that could control earth than there were Jack Frost Descendants that could control ice, they had an easier time keeping the barrier in place. 

However, I noticed that some of them had begun to strain, looking over at their barrier, I saw to my horror that black sand was leaking through the earth barrier. 

"Heads up!" I yelled, my lot quickly saw what was happening and braced themselves to pick up the slack. 

More sand began leaking through the earth, quickly filling up the space between the two walls. 

I braced myself in a steady stance and steadied my part of the barrier. The space between the two walls made it harder for the sand to force its way through, but I quickly noticed parts of the earth wall crumble and the person who had been holding that portion collapsed from exhaustion. 

The earth wall in front of me slowly cracked, then exploded and chunks of earth hit my barrier, cracking it in places. I held tight and quickly repaired the cracks before the rush of sand hit it. 

I grunted and held my ground as the sand swarmed the wall, trying to find weak spots. My arms remained strong as the sand continued to batter the barrier, but it wasn't the same the whole way down. 

The earth moving Descendants were down, now we were only stalling, but we couldn't let the sand in. However, someone had to cave. 

And that someone was Alice. 

Her inexperience caught her off guard, and her scream echoed through the now silent hall as black sand trickled through the barrier. 

I stamped my foot and sent some ice her way to block the hole, but she had completely let go in her panic and her part of the barrier was crumbling. 

I spread my stance wider and tried to compensate by spreading my barrier into the gap, covering it. It felt like I was trying to hold up a car. 

Sweat broke out on my forehead and I strained to hold the two parts of the barrier up. 

"Look out!" 

I looked over to see that Graham was the next to go and he fell over in exhaustion. 

"Someone take up his barrier!" I said as loud as I could, but Graham's exhaustion was the  
final straw. The sand flowed through his part of the barrier and the others backed off in horror as I took up his barrier as well, my arms and shoulders screaming in protest. 

One by one my fellow Descendants gave up, almost collapsing, each time I took up the slack. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep it up as my arms began shaking uncontrollably. 

Behind me I could hear the other Descendants fighting off the sand that had gotten through, with Stephen and Rachel using wind to blow it back, but it slowly and surely made its way through the crowd. 

I could hear voices barking orders, but couldn't hear what they were saying, my concentration was solely on the barrier. 

To my horror I felt myself begin to weaken and the ice in front of me cracked, the cracks slowly spider webbing their way across the ice. 

"No, come on." I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and kept at it, not willing to give up just yet. 

I didn't need my eyes to tell me that my barrier was about to go. 

The ice audibly cracked, then shattered with a sound like breaking glass. Sand shot through where the barrier used to be and cannoned into my chest, sending me flying backwards. 

I rolled and skidded to the feet of the other Descendants, who tried to help me to my feet. 

I quickly got myself out of their grip and went forward to try and hold it off again at the barrier, still not willing to give up. Behind me I could hear shouts, people telling me to come back or asking if I was crazy. 

At that point what remained of the barrier went with a loud crack and black sand flooded in faster than anyone could hold it back. 

It rushed over the hundreds in attendance and swamped them. I fell on my back from the strength of it and tried to stay awake as exhaustion and the Nightmare Sand did its work. 

Like a tide I could feel the sand receding, taking me with it. I started to scramble up, to get away from it, but it sucked at me, holding me down as I was pulled across the rocky ground. 

I clenched my fist and drew it back, throwing a weak punch, sending ice spreading throughout the sand, which got replaced by more sand. 

I began to pass into unconsciousness when I felt someone grab me under the armpits and pull me up out of the sand's pull. The sand had already done its work and my head flopped into my chest before I could see who it was.


	22. Chapter 21

**Hi guys! Sorry for disappearing like that, I was on holiday, without my laptop, so no updates, or actual writing. The story is technically done, but I keep getting new ideas to add to it, I've doing this nearly nonstop since January. Although, it was nice on holiday, finally got around to finishing Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright, that ending, just, wow.**

**Anyway, thank you to Brookewyrm the Strangeling for favouriting, and thank you to Puckabrina29 for following and favouriting.**

**Finally, Jacob Shives, good to know you're on board! Hope you stick around for the whole thing. We're going to need more cookies at this rate.**

**And, at last, on with the show.**

"Jackie, wake up! Jackie!" 

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. My ears must have been deceiving me, there's no way it's... 

"Jackie!" 

I turned my head to the side to see someone I never expected to see. 

"Penelope?" 

I could see her sigh with relief and smile. 

I started to raise myself up, but my arms felt so weak, so I just flopped to the ground again. 

"Wha-Why are you here? Where even are we?" I asked, looking around, we seemed to be in the middle of a forest somewhere. 

"We're not far from the moor you were parked on. As for what happened... I, I got cold feet." 

"What do you mean?" 

"The takeover, I got cold feet at the last minute, there wasn't much I could do to stop them, but I got you out." 

"Wait, takeover... OH GOD!" It came flooding back, the sand, the failing barriers, the arms pulling me free as I was falling asleep. 

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS?!" I demanded. 

"The plan was to capture and hold hostage. The most powerful to be isolated and, dealt with by Pitch himself." 

"There's got to be something we can do." I said, trying and failing to get up. 

"No! You're still weak and as far as I know we're the only ones who got out." 

I lay there for a minute, trying to wrap my head around it. Realising something I turned my head to look at her. 

"And why exactly should I trust your word? You joined them." 

She seemed to deflate. "I'm afraid I can't really, but surely the fact you're here and not tied up underground somewhere must speak for something." 

She sounded a little different than the first time I'd met her, now she didn't seem quite so confident, more mellow. 

"Well, since I can't move for a bit, tell me, how did you join them?" 

"They found me in the police station. An older one posed as my parent and came to take me "home". He took me aside and explained who he was and where we going. I was so excited; I could finally meet people who understood and wouldn't blow up in my face. No offence." 

"None taken." 

"We shadow travelled there and I met everyone, they seemed a little cold, but I thought it was just because I was new.  
Except I found that they were like that with most people who didn't share their view. Our power deals with fear, so it was practice to make yourself immune to it. You can feel any other emotion in its place, but never fear.  
I couldn't do it, fear keeps you alive after all, and if you couldn't numb fear, you weren't really considered one of them. It was when we last met that I decided that I wanted to get out." 

I took in her story and compared with her actions, they seemed to add up, apart from the fear thing. 

"Really? Then why were people screaming when I was turning people to ice?" It was such a nonchalant question, even though I felt an internal flinch. 

"It takes a while to get it down." Said Penelope. 

"Why didn't you want to give up feeling fear, sounds like a good idea to me." 

"To understand that, I'd have to tell you my life story." 

"I'm not going anywhere." I encouraged. 

I heard her sigh and saw her shoulders stiffen. 

"You know, sometimes it's better to let it out, rather than holding it all in." 

A moment of silence, then. 

"My parents hated my power, from a young age I decided that I wanted to run away, which is what I did. I didn't want to go near people, so I stayed in the woods, in order to survive I had to use my powers to hunt, which was hard at first, but now I could do it without thinking. I know exactly where on a body a strike could either kill or merely wound. That's what happened with that boy, my intention was never to kill, only to injure, but it had to serious enough for you to believe that you had done it accidentally." 

That was really something I didn't want to hear, sensing my discomfort, she moved on. 

"I didn't have any real contact with people, and kept on moving with my shadow travel. I found several Branches of HOG, but none of them wanted me once they saw what I could do.  
As you know, a few months ago I found you and felt a connection. You were afraid of what your powers could do and you had suffered loss because of it. I thought that if I could convince you along with me, I wouldn't have to be alone, however, I didn't really know how to talk to another person anymore, and, well, you know the rest." 

It took me a few seconds to let it all sink in, and when it did I was stunned. In front of me was someone who'd run into the wilderness and carved out a life for herself, if she hadn't been shunned by HOG and found me, then I imagine she'd be a lot happier than she looked now. 

"I'm sorry." 

"Not your fault, I was in the wrong for trying to force you like that." 

"But at least I understand now." 

I put my head back down and tried to lift myself up again, only to fall back down. 

"Well, looks like I'm not going anywhere." 

"You just need food, I'll go get some, and some wood for a fire." 

I flinched inwardly as she left to deeper into the woods, the idea of a fire sent a shot of fear in my stomach, but Penelope wasn't me, she'd die out here without one. 

I waited for a while as Penelope came back with fire wood and lit a cheery blaze. I managed to push myself away from it with my feet, until it no longer felt like I was burning and melting at the same time. 

She had stuck a rabbit on the end of a stick and put the other end of the stick into the ground near the fire, letting it cook. 

The smell was good, so good. My stomach growled in anticipation. 

Penelope ended up awkwardly playing nursemaid, feeding me chunks of it since my arms didn't want to co-operate. 

Once we were both done we lay back on the ground and looked up at the sky. Between the bare branches I could see the moon shining brightly, with stars twinkling beside it, more stars than I saw at home. 

"So, what now?" I asked. "We can't leave them there." 

"I agree, but we're just two, they're hundreds!" 

My mind wandered and for some reason landed on Jack and Sandman. 

"Then we go to the Guardians." I thought out loud. 

"Are you insane!? There's a reason why we Descendants and beings like the Guardians, spirits, immortals, whatever you want to call them, don't work together, it attracts too much attention. And even if we did, do you know how they'll react to someone like me?" 

"No, but I'm good terms with Jack and Sandman, if they're all together, we can convince them." 

"We don't know where they are, Jack is a wanderer, Bunnymund is underground somewhere and who knows where the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman reside!" 

"Which leaves Santa's Workshop, and everyone knows where that is." 

"It's beyond freezing up there, I know you're not affected by the cold, but can you even survive that?" 

"I don't know, there's only one way to find out." 

"His Workshop is shielded from shadow travel." 

"How do know that?" 

"It's fairly common knowledge with the Descendants of Pitch." She said with a shrug. 

"Many of us have tried and failed." 

"Okay, then we travel to just outside and knock on the door." 

"You can't be serious." 

"I am." 

Her shoulders sagged. 

"You don't have to come in there with me if you're that worried, you can just drop me off." I suggested. 

"No, I should come with you, we don't know how long it would take for you to recover, and with two of us the story will be more credible." 

"So, the minute I can move my arms, we go to the North Pole. Agreed?" 

"Agreed."


	23. Chapter 22

It took two days for my arms to be in full working order. 

During that time we didn't do much, not even talk. Penelope seemed to be one of those people who can sit in the same spot for days and not have to do anything. I, on the other hand, was twitchy, the more time we spent here was more time that HOG was in trouble, and yet there was little I could do except wait. 

Finally I found something that had been bothering me. 

"You know when you attacked my Branch last month?" I asked, a little bluntly. 

Penelope winced slightly, "...yes." 

"Why did you do that?" I asked, "Were you so worked up about what happened, or was it something else?" 

Penelope shook her head, "I didn't have the kind of power to execute that sort of plan. Orders from even higher up than Samuel apparently, we had to stir up the Branches as much as possible, but without putting them on to the fact that we were up to something big. Samuel already had a thing against the Burgess Branch for the part they played in what is widely known as the 'Battle of Burgess'. Did they tell you about that?" 

I shook my head, "no, although, were a group of kids involved?" 

"They fought with the Guardians, yes. How do you know that and nothing else?" 

"I know one of the kids who fought." I said simply, Jamie had told me about it not too long ago. 

"Anyway, Samuel saw it as way of killing two birds with one stone. To get the Burgess Branch back for the Battle and freak out the Heads enough for us to pull off our plan." 

"How did you even know when we were meeting? It was two weeks after your last... thing." 

"Well, Descendants of Pitch who can manipulate shadows and not black Dream sand had hidden themselves in various known Branch locations, not including yours though.  
We...they, tend to use them as scouts." 

"That...explains a few things." 

"Anything else you want to dig into?" She asked, trying to make her voice sound light, but even I could hear the slight bitterness in it. 

"...None, thanks." 

We barely talked for the rest of time I spent recovering, still a little too awkward to strike up a normal conversation. 

Once I'd regained the use of my arms we were ready to go. I'd left my bag in the sleigh, so I hadn't had a change of clothes in two days, we melted some ice so I could at least feel a little clean, then we prepared for shadow travel. 

I remembered what it felt like last time, and I was not looking forward to it. 

"Just keep breathing, it gets easier that way." Said Penelope, even though I hadn't said anything, it was also the first thing she'd said since when she told me about the Descendant's plan. 

I took her advice and thankfully it wasn't as bad as last time. 

As soon as we were in the frozen north I pulled up a half domed barrier to keep the wind  
out. The air seemed to have a bit of bite to it, but I dreaded to think what it was like for Penelope. She was hugging herself and shivering, even with protection from wind chill her lips had already begun to turn blue. 

I took off my coat and gave it to her, without it I could feel a bit of the cold, but not enough for me to want the coat back. I could feel the cold almost stroking my arms and I shivered, which in itself was new, I'd never had to shiver before. 

"T-this i-is a-as c-c-close as I-I-I c-c-could g-g-get." Penelope said, her teeth chattering. 

Looking up I could see North's Workshop above us, and in front of us was a steep cliff. 

"We're going to need to walk towards that cliff." I said, pointing. 

"O-o-ok-k-kay." 

We walked up to it and once we were there I made the ice below us form a platform and rise up. It took a few minutes to get up there, and looking at Penelope, it seemed to be minutes we couldn't afford. I didn't remember the exact signs for when someone's going to die of cold, but just this change was enough to make me scared for Penelope. 

I ran my mantra through my head and tried to keep breathing calmly, now was not the time to panic, excess ice wouldn't help anyone. 

As soon as we reached the top walked towards the workshop and found the door. By this time Penelope's hands had gone purple, we had to get in, now. 

I moved the shield behind us and banged on the door. I tried not to wince as my hands left small swirls of frost on the door. 

"Hello! Please, my friend isn't in good shape." I called, in case the knocks didn't do anything. 

My knocks were answered by a huge wall of fur. Looking up I could see a pair of eyes and a nose poking out. 

"Can we come in? Please." 

In response the fur wall closed the door. 

"No wait please! My name is Jackie Davies. Jack knows me! Please, my friend could die out here! We need your help!" 

My fist pounded against the door, then slid off it. This place was huge, there's a chance the man himself couldn't even here us. 

"Can you shadow travel from here?" I asked, turning to Penelope behind me. 

Penelope shook her head, looking worse than I thought as she shivered violently. 

I never felt more helpless in my life. Penelope was almost dying of cold and I could do nothing to help. North didn't seem to know that we were out here and any travel back would be enough time to make sure she died of cold. 

"HELP!" I yelled. "PLEASE HELP!" 

Tears began to build up in my eyes, "Please." 

There was thudding noise and the door suddenly flew open. Standing in the doorway was the man himself. Big white beard and all, exactly look the ice sculpture I'd made a few months ago. His was missing his coat and hat though, I imagine he didn't wear them when he was at home. 

"What's all this noise out here?" He asked with a Russian accent. 

He looked down at us from his great height and quickly saw Penelope's issue, his face becoming serious. 

"Inside, quickly." 

I helped her in as North began to walk back shouting orders. 

"I need blankets and hot chocolate. Now!" 

His workshop was filled with tiny creatures in red pointy hats and bells, all about ankle height and trying to get out of our way. I barely noticed the commotion around us, with more walls of fur building toys around us, each based off ice sculptures. 

Four of the tiny creatures, which I decided were elves, carried chair over and I helped  
Penelope sit in it as blankets were handed to us. North tried to wrap one around me, but I handed it to Penelope. 

"Come on now, you're just as cold." 

"Doesn't affect me as much." 

He raised a dark eyebrow and then tried passing me a mug of hot chocolate. Even from here I could feel the heat, and despite the conditions outside, I really didn't think I could handle it. 

"Ah, no thanks." 

"You were out there as well you know, it'll make you feel better." 

"Sorry, I'm not good with hot stuff. It always feels like I'm burning." 

Now that Penelope was all wrapped up, North and I moved her to the fire, so she could warm up more. I stood as close to her as I dared, not being able to take the fire. 

Behind us was a gargantuan globe covered in small golden lights that blinked cheerily.  
Just looking at it made me feel more relaxed, although I couldn't quite understand why. 

"So," North stood in front of us with his arms folded. "What are the two of you doing all the way up here? You don't look like explorers." 

"It's a long story, but first of, have you heard of the Human Order of Guardians?" 

North scoffed, "Of course I have! Couldn't get away from them for a while, they can be  
so, annoyingly polite." 

"Well, times haven't changed it seems." 

"Wait, you're from them? What do they want?" 

"That's part of the story." 

"Well then," North leaned against the panel in front of the globe, his arms still folded.  
"You'd better start talking." 

I quickly explained HOG meeting and its reason for it, once I got to the ice wall North stopped me. 

"Hold on, you mean to say, that you, are Jack's Descendant?" 

"Yes, I know him, actually. I live in the same place as his friend Jamie, he saw me having issues with my powers and, after some persuading from Nigel, agreed to help me gain some control." 

"Hmmm, and you say there's only ten of you?" 

"Ten known, it's likely there are others, just being very good at keeping themselves hidden. With a power like this I couldn't blame them." 

North looked over Penelope, who was looking a lot better, but was still happy to remain wrapped up in the blankets. 

"What about you, who are you Descended from?" 

Penelope and I shared glances. 

"Um, before we tell you, can I just say that I don't believe that powers or who you're related to define you." I said, trying to not let my nervousness show. 

"Okay, I suppose." Replied North, a little confused from my answer. 

I looked at Penelope, whose lips were pressed into a determined line. She forced her hand of the blankets and formed a small star out of black sand. 

The effect on North was dramatic. 

He backed up into the console, then drew his sword, pointing it at us. 

"A Descendant of Pitch! Here!" 

"Please, calm down, we can explain!" I cried, holding my hands out in a hopefully appeasing gesture, although my surprise and slight panic at North's sudden reaction had caused my fingers to frost slightly. 

"You better, before I send her back into the cold." 

I lowered my hands and tried to brush off the frost on my jeans as I explained. 

"Look, she and I haven't always seen eye to eye, but she's the reason I'm here and not trapped with the rest of HOG, and what would be the point of letting me go free? I've already shown myself as a threat to the Descendants of Pitch, it would make more sense for her to have killed me or let me be captured, but she didn't. I know it might not change your mind, but I trust her." 

North seemed to consider this for a moment, then relaxed and sheathed his sword. 

"Alright, you are from HOG, so if you trust her, then I'll trust your judgement. But I'm still going be on guard, understood?" 

Penelope nodded "that was the best I could have hoped for." 

North turned back to me. 

"I don't believe I've gotten your names." 

"I'm Jacqueline Davies, most people call me Jackie, and this is Penelope..." 

I paused when I realised that I didn't know Penelope's surname. 

"Just Penelope." She answered, and suddenly it made sense in my head. She had run away from her parents, she probably didn't want anything that could tie her to them. I wonder if Penelope is the name her parents gave her? 

"Jackie and Penelope, nice to meet you." Said North, shaking me from my thoughts. "You probably already know who I am, just please, don't call me Mr, it's annoying." 

"Okay." I replied. 

"So, the whole of HOG is in trouble?" 

"Yes." 

"Hmm, it'll take more than the three of us, I fear. You say you know Jack personally?" 

"Yes, and I've also met Sandman." 

"So you've almost met everyone. I should get everyone here! The more the merrier, huh?" 

"Whatever you say, you're in charge around here." 

"Excellent!" 

He walked back to the console and grabbed a handle that was sticking out of it. He twisted the handle and pushed into the console. 

The continents on the globe lit up in green and pink, the colours gathered together and shot into the sky, forming the northern lights. 

"That's how you call them?" I asked, looking up into the sky. 

"Yes, very efficient, and very pretty. Only for emergencies of course." 

"I'm glad this counts as an emergency." 

He turned back around and smiled. 

"Well, better make yourselves comfortable, they might be a while."


	24. Chapter 23

**Thanks to Outcast4Ever for following this story!**

Jack was the first to arrive, shooting down the hole in the ceiling. 

"Jackie?" He said as he landed, "What are you doing here?" 

"There's an emergency with HOG, all the other members have been captured by the Descendants of Pitch, I didn't know how to find you, so I came here." 

"And made a lot of noise." Added North, "Not that I'm surprised, her friend was freezing out there." 

Jack looked over at Penelope and his expression hardened. 

"What is she doing here?" 

"Jack wait." I tried to stop him but he stormed up to her chair and pointed his staff at her. Penelope shrank back in the chair, but her face didn't show any fear, it was almost like she accepted what was happening. 

"Jack, stop, it's okay!" I cried, and Penelope looked at me with surprise written on her face. Jack's gaze however, didn't move. 

"No it's not! She's the one who attacked Jamie!" 

"I know." 

"She attacked you!" 

"I am well aware of that." 

Jack looked at me with a confused expression on his face. "And you're okay with this?" 

"Yes, things have changed. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be standing here. So back off already!" 

Jack stepped away from Penelope. 

"Jeez, since when were you so bossy?" 

"Right now I kinda have to be to stop myself freaking out, since I've already had frosty fingers. It was your teaching after all." 

Jack folded his arms and grumbled to himself. I nudged him with my elbow, "Oh, cheer up." 

"Tooth, good to see you!" 

I looked over at North to see that he was talking to a woman hovering off the ground who was covered with green, blue, purple and gold feathers. Around her flew a bunch of tiny blue and green fairies, each of them appearing to have hummingbird like beaks. 

She zoomed over to Jack to greet him, then to me and Penelope with a curious expression on her face. 

"Hey, who are you two?" 

North coughed, "I think we'd better save that for when Bunny and Sandy get here." 

I nodded in agreement when a snowball slammed into my side. I looked over at Jack, who  
was looking away and whistling suspiciously. 

"Oh, it's on." 

I held out my hands and managed to summon about ten snowballs, despite there being no snow. 

"Hey you told me to cheer up!" Jack protested. 

"Come on, just one? I've never gotten you with a snowball." 

"You can wait 'till practice for that." 

"Please." 

"No." 

I pretended to sulk, but when his back was turned I threw one at him. He quickly turned around and hit it back at me with his staff, catching me on the shoulder. 

"Oh come on!" I cried, laughing slightly and shaking off the snow while letting the other snowballs disappear. 

"Nice try, but you're not getting me that easily! I've had 300 years to get good at snowball fights!" 

"Wait, do you two know each other?" asked Toothiana. 

"Yeah." Said Jack "I've been helping her control her powers." 

"Oh really?" She and the small fairies following her gave me a look I'd only ever seen on popular girls faces. 

"I never thought I'd be on the receiving end of that stare." I said, taking an involuntary step backwards. 

"Whoah, what's with that look?" asked Jack. 

I looked at him disbelievingly. "Jack, I'm a social recluse, and I know what that look means!" 

I took another step back as one of the fairies disengaged from the rest and flew in my face, shaking her tiny fist at me. 

"There's nothing like that going on! I swear!" 

"That's enough girls!" Cried Toothiana, "this is not proper Tooth Fairy behaviour!" 

I let out a sigh of relief as the smaller fairies flew back, but started backwards as Toothiana flew uncomfortably close. 

"Now open up, let's see how you've been taking care of your teeth since you lost your baby ones." She said, her violet eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. 

"Wha-?" 

My partially open mouth allowed Toothiana to put her fingers in my mouth and attempt to examine my teeth. 

Now, most people's body temperature was merely uncomfortable. The heat coming from Toothiana's fingers however was downright painful. Especially as they'd been shoved into a sensitive part of my body. 

I gave a small cry and backed off as quickly as I could, yanking myself from Toothiana's fingers. I tried not to show how much pain that had caused me, but I couldn't help massaging my jaw with my now relatively blissfully cool fingers. 

Feeling the heat of the fire on my back I danced forward and to the right to avoid the fire and Toothiana's fingers. I turned around and backed off, still dancing away from Toothiana's still probing fingers and the swarming fairies. I felt my back connect with the railing and I suddenly surrounded by fairies. 

I ducked underneath them and made a run for it, with Jack roaring with laughter in the background. Even North was in on it, I could hear him roaring with laughter as well. 

I ended up running straight into a wall of fur and backed up, the fairies were suddenly everywhere and they managed to get into my mouth. 

I tried moving backwards to get away from their tiny fingers, but now that they had a hold me, they weren't letting go until they were satisfied. 

"Ow ow ow." I muttered, trying to gently swat them away. In a sudden movement they all went back to Toothiana, allowing me to massage my mouth and glare at Jack, who was now rolling on the floor with laughter. 

While Jack was rolling on the floor laughing as Toothiana looked at me with a mix of confusion, concern and a little hurt. Her fairies were all chattering to her and each other and I wasn't sure that I wanted to know what they were saying. 

"S-sorry." I stammered out, losing my glare to look at Toothiana. All while trying to ignore the burning feeling in my mouth now that the fairies were satisfied. "Not your fault..." 

Jack was still roaring with laughter as I glared at him. 

"You could have helped you know." 

"Sorry, sorry!" He gasped out between laughs, "but your face was priceless!" 

North was also still laughing. "I do not think dancing is for you though, no?" 

I heard sniggering from the fire and I sent Penelope a glare, who despite herself was grinning. 

"It was pretty funny." She said and I was tempted to throw snowball at the pair of them.  
Thankfully we got interrupted before things escalated. 

"Ah Sandy, good to see you!" 

I looked over and saw the familiar small yellow figure and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jack get back up, a stupid grin still plastered on his face. 

"Hey Sandman!" I said, relived. 

He smiled and floated over as Jack and I raised a hand in greeting, in an almost identical manner. It was a bit surreal, but the moment passed as Sandy formed a question mark over his head at me. 

"I'm waiting for her to tell me as well." Said Jack. "North wants to wait until everyone's here though." 

Sandy shrugged and North greeted someone else loudly. 

"Ah Bunny!" 

We looked behind us to see a grey furred six foot tall bipedal rabbit walking in, arms hugging his shoulders and shivering. On his forearms were what appeared to be leather guards set with small gem stones, with an orange one set in the centre. He had a leather holster on his back that was slung across his back and more leather straps around his enormous feet. 

"Why do have to come up here when you call us? Can't we go somewhere, you know, warmer? I can't feel my feet!" Bunnymund complained with an Australian accent that was thicker than Billy's. 

He looked over at us and saw me standing there and Penelope still wrapped in her blankets. 

"Hey, who are these two?" 

"This is Jackie and this is Penelope." Said North, pointing to us in turn. 

"And why are they here?" 

"Well." Said North, walking towards us, "Now that we are all here, we can let them explain."


	25. Chapter 24

**First off I'd like to thank milliamezquita for following, Ashes of Chaos for favouriting and aquainfurnus for following and favouriting. Thanks guys!**

I felt the blood drain from my face; I hadn't expected to put on the spot like this. I had hoped that North would explain this. 

I took a deep breath and let it out again, calming myself. 

"Okay, to start, have all of you heard of the Human Order of Guardians?" 

Bunnymund scoffed and turned away. "That lot? Of course we have, real bloody annoying sometimes." 

"Oh come on, they're not so bad." Defended Toothiana, "their heart's in the right place." Sandman nodded in agreement. 

"Doesn't make them any less annoying." Bunnymund turned back towards us. "Don't tell me you're from them?" 

"Yeeeah." 

Bunnymund groaned, "Oh that's just great! Why did you have to come here? Easter is right around the corner for crying out loud! Isn't this something you can handle on your own?" 

"No." I replied, trying to keep my voice even as my temper rose, "there's no one else left." 

"What?" All of the Guardians looked shocked, but I was still focusing on Bunnymund. 

"Everyone else has been captured by the Descendants of Pitch." 

"Well that's still your problem!" 

"There's no one else to turn to! What were we supposed to do? It's just the two of us left!" 

"Still your problem, we didn't ask for you lot." 

I'd finally had enough with him and exploded. 

"I don't remember asking for this either! Do you think I actually want a power that has caused me nothing but trouble? My brother could still be alive! I could be having a normal life right about now, but no, I'm hundreds of miles away from home, scared out of my mind because the only people who could even begin to understand have all gone and at the minute the only hope I have is being thrown back in my face!" 

Bunnymund and I were standing nose to nose now, glaring at each other. At that point I couldn't help but notice how much taller Bunnymund was than me. 

"Jackie, floor!" 

I looked over at Jack and then looked at my feet. A small area of ice had formed around my feet and was still growing. My control still needed a lot of work it seemed, frosty fingers were an improvement, but I hadn't expected to actually form ice. 

I closed my eyes, took a step back and breathed deeply, letting my anger go, the ice disappearing with it. 

When I opened my eyes I saw that Bunnymund had moved away with look of annoyance. 

"Aw great, you're Descended from him aren't you?!" He cried pointing at Jack. 

"Yes." 

"That's just great. Like we need two of you." 

"If it helps the only thing we seem to share is ice powers." Said Jack. 

"Great, now the two of you can blast me!" 

I looked over at Jack, who looked a little sheepish. 

"What did you do?" I asked him, to which he shrugged. 

"Long story." 

In an attempt to calm things Toothiana fluttered over to Penelope and asked, "What about you? Who are you Descended from?" 

Penelope looked over at me, her eyes wide. I understood her fear, we could lose what favour we currently had, but if we hid it the consequences could be much worse. 

I nodded to her and she looked back at Toothiana. She then said in a small voice "I'm a Descendant of Pitch." 

"What was that sorry?" 

She took a deep breath, "I'm a Descendant of Pitch." 

Instantly Toothiana withdrew and Bunnymund and Sandman got into a defensive position. 

"What were you thinking bringing her here!" yelled Bunnymund, glaring in my direction. 

"If you let me explain-" 

Sandman glared in her direction and formed whips of sand. 

"Can you please...?" 

Bunnymund pulled out a pair of boomerangs. 

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I yelled, sending a small wall of ice between Penelope and the others with a sweep of my arms. 

Bunnymund and Sandman stepped back in double surprise, even Jack looked at me in surprise, he'd never seen me like this. Penelope also looked surprised, as though she hadn't expected me to defend her in such a way. 

"If you'd listen, Penelope is the reason why I got out. We'd met before and she was starting to get cold feet with what the Descendants of Pitch were doing. It was essentially our opportunity of escape, albeit in slightly different ways." 

Bunnymund spluttered in disbelief, "You can't actually trust her do you?" 

"Yes, I do." 

"Well then, you can both get the heck out of here, this still doesn't concern us and you've just put us all in danger. If we were in trouble, would we expect you to drop everything to help?" 

"Yes, we would! There's more of us anyway!" 

Bunnymund scoffed, "Clearly you haven't been around them long enough. Why don't you just go back unless you have something that actually concerns us!" 

I'd finally had enough of his attitude, but surprisingly Penelope was the one who snapped. 

"Pitch himself is leading them! Trust us when we say, this concerns you as well!" 

We all stopped and stared at her in disbelief. 

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier!?" I said, trying to keep my temper and sudden fear under control. Although I could still feel the familiar feeling of frost gathering on my fingers. 

"You were already freaked out after the attack; I didn't want to add to that." 

"Something like that is more important than my wellbeing!" I cried in disbelief, in a higher pitch than I would have liked and feeling my hands shaking slightly from the revelation. I remembered all too well what happened when I last saw Pitch Black. 

On that note, it felt weird to be arguing like this after having not said much to each other. 

"That's enough you two." said North surprisingly calmly. "So, when was the attack?" 

"Two days ago." I replied, attempting to get my voice under control and trying to discreetly brush off the frost on my jeans. 

"It took you that long to get here?" 

"No, Penelope has shadow travel powers, so we got here within 15 minutes, those two days were spent recovering." 

"Recovering?" 

"The initial attack was a wave of black sand. Myself and the other Descendants of Jack, all eight of us who can control ice, erected a barrier to keep it out, with about fifty Descendants of Bunnymund using earth to make another barrier in front of ours." 

"They still got through that?" asked Bunnymund, having moved his arms down, he still hadn't put away the boomerangs though. The Sandman had gotten rid of his sand streams, but still eyed Penelope warily as I explained. 

"Yes, it was gradual, with personal weaknesses making weaknesses in the earth wall, eventually it became too much and it got to our barrier. The person next to me was the first to go down; since she's so young and keeping the barrier up was a massive strain. I tried to keep her part of the barrier up as well as mine, but the sand got through anyway. Somebody else then went down I tried to keep their part of their barrier up as well. Then everyone went." 

"We were told to not hold back." Said Penelope. 

"I could tell; it felt like I was attempting to hold up the sky!" 

"I saw you, you had your eyes closed, but you were holding up the whole barrier!" 

"I know; my arms still haven't forgiven me for it." I said, rolling my shoulders, which still ached. 

"But that room was huge! How did you manage it?" 

"I don't know, adrenaline rush?" I shrugged and tried not to wince from the movement. 

"And also, I thought your arms were okay now!" She had clearly noticed the suppressed wince. 

"We agreed to move when I could move my arms again. We didn't say anything about them not hurting. It's just the shoulders anyway." 

"You're unbelievable, you know that? We should have waited another day to make sure you're okay!" 

"No, we shouldn't have! As long as I can move them, it's fine." 

"No it's not!" 

North coughed and I got on with the story. 

"Anyway, I spent those two days flat on my back because my arms were too weak to actually do anything. If it wasn't for Penelope sticking around, then, well I wouldn't be here." 

Toothiana looked between the two of us, then back at the others. "I think we should help them." 

My hope began to rise as Jack spoke. 

"I'm in." 

Sandman nodded and gave a thumbs up to show that he was on board. 

Bunnymund looked at the others, then sighed, sheathing his boomerangs on his back. "Well, Pitch is involved, might as well. But don't get used to it." He sent me a glare, but it was more relaxed now. 

North grinned. "Excellent, now we just need to know where they are." 

We all looked at Penelope. 

"It's not that simple, each group of Descendants are being held in different places." She said. 

"Okay, where?" 

"The Descendants of Jack are underneath the Sahara desert." 

I flinched, that was just cruel. 

Toothiana had seen me flinch, "What is it?" 

"People like me, we can't handle heat. We have a high tolerance for the cold, but the heat." I shuddered again, "just, no." 

"How bad is it for you?" asked Toothiana, clearly curious. 

"Let's put it this way, I was outside not too long ago, and I haven't willingly moved any closer to the fire than this." I replied, standing closer to the Globe than the fire. 

Tooth suddenly winced, realising exactly what she had done when she put her fingers in my mouth. 

"Sorry about, earlier." 

"It's okay. You didn't know." I said, waving away her concern. 

"If it helps, your teeth are as good as Jacks." 

"Um, thanks?" I was unsure if that was a compliment or not. 

"How bad would it be if they escaped there?" Asked North, getting the conversation back on track. 

"Pretty bad, I don't know what the exact reaction would be, but they might not survive." 

"Then how can we free them if we can't get them out?" asked Toothiana. 

My gaze drifted to Bunnymund. 

"We go underground." I thought aloud. 

Bunnymund saw me looking at him, "Wait, you want me to use the Tunnels?" 

"If that's not a problem." 

"Well, yeah, it is!" The others looked at him and he seemed to sag, "Fine, but I'm not happy about this." 

I looked back to Penelope, "Where're the others." 

She began to count off her fingers. 

"Descendants of Bunnymund are underneath Antarctica, Descendants of Toothiana are beneath Moscow, Descendants of North are underneath Sydney and the Descendants of Sandman are being held in a base in North America. I think its a few states north of you Jackie." 

"You don't know for certain?" I asked. 

"I don't have a perfect memory." She said with a shrug, her expression apologetic. 

"Well then," said North, "sounds like we'll need the sleigh!" 

Bunnymund's face paled beneath his fur and his ears went back, "Whoa whoa, I'll just head to the one beneath the Sahara by the Tunnels." 

"Oh no you don't, we'll work it out on the way, come on."


	26. Chapter 25

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**MysteriousSherlock-Don't worry about it, if you've been busy then you've been busy. Hope you do well in sixth form!**

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**And now, the next chapter.**

I helped Penelope shed her blankets and get her to her feet. We then followed North downstairs through the Workshop and to an ice cavern, after he stopped to pull on a red fur lined coat and a black fur hat. 

I looked around at the ice cavern, admiring the skill and time it must have taken to carve it out. It was supported by ornate, curved, wooden beams that stopped just as the ice began to tilt downwards. "Whoa..." 

"I thought you'd like it." Said Jack, over his shoulder I could see that glare from Toothiana's fairies again. 

"Are you sure you aren't cold Jackie?" Asked North as he walked over to pair of ornate, wooden, double doors in the wall. 

I shook my head, "No." Despite the fact I was standing in an ice cavern in the Arctic in a t shirt, I could barely feel the cold. 

"Hmm, interesting how you Descendants work, no?" 

Before I could answer there was a creaking noise and the doors in the icy wall began to open. A group of harnessed reindeer walked out, snorting and bucking as they did so. The tiny people in pointy red hats ran among them, trying to calm them. 

As the reindeer walked out, they pulled out a sleigh, but not the sleigh you'd expect.  
It had a high back and benches with multiple seats, alongside it were wings for lift and at the front was a console similar to the one in Nigel's, although this one included an smaller version of the Globe on the dashboard. The seats were essentially long benches, and they seemed to be able to extend for more seating room. 

"Oh wow." I breathed, walking around it. Inside my chest I could feel a warm emotion bubbling up, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. 

Penelope also stared at it in wonder as North laughed. "Everyone loves the sleigh." 

"What Nigel wouldn't give to see this." I said. 

"Who is this, Nigel?" asked North. 

"Burgess Branch's Descendant of North, he's always tinkering with stuff apparently. He got us to Scotland in a sleigh he designed and built, although his had a dome to keep the air in." 

"It seems that my Descendants are missing an important thing when it comes to designing a flying sleigh." Said North, his eyes gleaming, "Magic." 

He then clapped his hands, "Everybody into the sleigh!" 

I hoisted myself in and slid along one of the near back benches, Penelope got in next to me, Jack went behind us. Sandman went in front of us and Toothiana on the same row while Bunnymund hesitated outside the sleigh. 

"Bunny, do I have to lift you in again?" asked North. 

"No no, I'm coming." 

He hopped in close to front as North got himself settled in front of the dashboard. 

"Is everybody ready?!" He called over his shoulder. 

I looked left and right on the seats, then said back. 

"Where are the seatbelts?!" 

"There aren't any!" He called back. 

"WHAT?!" 

North lashed the reins, "Ya ya!" and the sleigh started to move. 

"No no no no wait! Aiiiiiii!" 

We ran down the ice caverns, which were filled with needless hard corners and even a loop de loop. It was much faster than Nigel's sleigh, so I was pressed back into my seat again. Penelope looked like she was enjoying herself, although one look at Bunnymund told me that he wasn't enjoying the ride. He was gripping the sides to the point where his claws started to dig groves into the woodwork. 

In front of us a rickety wooden ramp leading into the sky approached. As we cantered towards I gripped the underside of the bench and did my best not to scream as we leapt off it. 

The reindeer cantered into the air and we flew away from the Workshop. 

"Oh my..." I breathed, pushing my glasses back on my nose. 

"Quite a ride isn't it?" said Jack, a grin in his voice. 

I nodded until I felt my stomach churning in revolt. 

"Does it come with a bucket?" I gasped, doubling over slightly, one hand on my stomach while the other drifted to my mouth. 

"If it did I'd have beaten you to it mate." Groaned Bunnymund, who looked as ill as I felt. 

"Aw, poor Bunny." Teased Jack and Bunnymund glared at him. 

"Keep at it and you'll end up with carrots on you." 

I ran a song through my head to keep my mind of the sickness. 

_Hey there Delilah..._

One run of that song and I felt a bit better. 

"Say Jackie?" 

I looked down at Toothiana, "Yes?" 

"What did you mean earlier? About your brother?" 

I froze, this seemed to be a very wrong time to bring that up. 

"It was an accident. I was younger and couldn't really control my powers properly, and in a moment of panic I threw my hand out and sent an icicle into my little brother's chest." 

Toothiana gasped and held her hand to her mouth, "Oh no." 

I shifted uncomfortably as Bunnymund and Sandman also looked over, "Like I said, it was an accident." 

"You didn't really mean what you said, did you?" asked Jack, concerned. "About your power giving you nothing but trouble?" 

I looked at my feet as I answered, not wanting to disappoint one of the few people I considered a friend. 

"I, I don't know. On one hand, I could be normal, be able to drink hot chocolate." I grinned slightly at that, "I wouldn't be so shy because I wouldn't have been afraid of them showing. However..." 

I looked at my hand and allowed small snowflake to form. It floated around my turning hand as I continued. 

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't, and this would still be happening if I never had these powers, except I wouldn't know, there'd be someone else sitting here, or maybe not anyone at all. If I didn't have them then things may have been much different." 

North quickly interrupted us, much to my relief. "We need plan!" He yelled back at us. 

"I'll head to Antarctica." I said without hesitation, glad to get off the previous subject. 

"Wait, what?" cried Bunnymund, "but you're a human, there's no way you'd survive that!" 

"I didn't know you cared." I said dryly, "but you don't have to, like I said, I have a higher tolerance for cold. I thought that the North Pole was a bit nippy, the Antarctic can't be much different." 

"That's the Arctic summer, the Antarctic winter is worse!" 

"It won't kill me." I said, hoping to settle the subject. 

"I'll head to the base in America." Said Toothiana, successfully distracting Bunnymund. 

"Are you sure?" asked North. 

"Yes, we'll be fine. Right girls?" She turned to her fairy entourage, who nodded and chattered in agreement. 

"Well, I'll be heading to the Sahara." Grumbled Bunnymund. 

"I'll be heading to Moscow." Said North, "which leaves Sandy with Sydney, you okay with that?" 

Sandman nodded. 

"That leaves me and Penelope spare." Said Jack. 

"Well, that's easy, Jack you go with Jackie, and Penelope goes with Sandy, so he can keep an eye on her." 

Of course they didn't quite trust her. 

"Everyone okay with this?" Asked North, we all agreed, although Penelope looked nervous at the idea of being paired with Sandman. 

"Alright, first stop, Antarctica!" 

I opened my mouth to object, because geographically that made no sense, but North pulled out an orb from the dashboard and flung it into the sky, where it exploded and seemed to form a portal. 

We flew into it and after a strange spinning sensation we were flying above the Antarctic. 

"Can you two get off here? We can't afford to stop!" Called North. 

Jack nodded and jumped off the back the sleigh. I managed to stand up and jumped off myself, pulling my arms up at the same time to get an ice pillar to form beneath me. 

The wind whipped at my hair and it almost seemed to stroke my arms, causing goose pimples to appear and bringing out a shiver. It was definitely colder here than in the Arctic, with the wind adding to the lowered temperature. This time it definitely felt uncomfortable, but I could live with it. However I did really start to miss my coat. 

The pillar sank into the ground and I looked around for Jack, the Antarctic air not bothering me too much. 

"JACK!" I yelled, not sure where the Spirit of Winter had gone, all I could see was  
white, without a speck of blue in sight. For a moment I felt very small in this sea of white, very small and scared. 

"JACK!" 

"No need to shout." 

I spun to see him standing behind me with his staff over his shoulder, I sighed with relief. 

"So, do you know where to go?" He asked, walking up to stand next to me. 

"...No." 

"Oh." 

"I suppose we pick a direction and start walking?" I said with a shrug, causing a twinge of pain to go across my shoulders. 

Jack also shrugged, "Best plan we've got."


	27. Chapter 26

We walked through the Antarctic, it was pretty windy and not the brightest, but the wind wasn't enough to really hamper me, so I could walk normally in the surprisingly clear land. The wind only picked up a bit of snow to throw at us, which wasn't an issue, given who was travelling. I kept my sense in the snow I was walking on so I could look out for sudden drops, that way I wouldn't fall down a crevasse. 

Above was a dark sky that was covered in stars, each one a brilliant firefly against a black curtain, with the moon peering down like an eye. But not an eye with malicious intent, instead more like an eye belonging to a watchful parent. 

I got the impression that Jack was frustrated that he couldn't just fly ahead, but I was grateful that he hung around. 

Every now and again he'd jump into the sky so he could see what was ahead. After a while I heard him shout. 

"Found it!" 

"Really!?" 

"Yeah, just keep walking forward there's a hole a few hundred metres ahead." He said as he floated down. 

"That doesn't make it Pitch, there are people doing research out here." 

"Might as well check it out." 

As we walked along, we noticed a black shape become clearer and clearer, very noticeable in the white Antarctic landscape. 

As we got closer Jack and I began to tense, seeing the sandy form of a black horse pacing back and forth. 

"Nightmare." Hissed Jack , clutching his staff tightly. 

"Nightmare?" I asked quietly, not wanting to alert the thing to our presence. 

"They're bad dreams, with a form. I thought only Pitch could control them." 

Despite the situation I had to hold back a snort of laughter. Nightmare? That sounded like a bad pun! 

Recovering myself I said. "Well, if they're here, then Penelope was right." 

"Or she's leading us into a trap." Said Jack darkly and I sent a glare his way. Why was I the only one willing to give Penelope a chance? 

Jack levelled his staff at the Nightmare as we slowly made our way towards it. It seemed to be pacing in front of a dark patch in the snow and ice. 

"Is that the hole you saw?" I whispered. 

"Yeah, so we've got to get past that." Jack whispered in reply. 

The Nightmare suddenly stopped in it pacing, it's head reared up as its ears flickered around. It turned its head in our direction and it lowered its head, nostrils flaring as it snorted. 

I stood stock still as its golden eyes glared at us, there was something about it that made my feet root to the ground. Suddenly its pun of a name seemed very accurate; this is something you'd see in a nightmare. 

"Jackie! Snap out of it!" I heard Jack cry as he fired a blast of ice from his staff.  
Frost formed on my fingers and spread across my hands, quickly turning into ice. 

The Nightmare reared, letting out a whinny and charged at me. My eyes widened in fear and  
I held out my hands in a feeble attempt to stop it as I let out a scared squeak. The ice on my hands flung itself at the Nightmare, slicing into it and causing it to let out what could be considered a cry of pain. 

Jack swung his staff in a downward arc, sending ice to pepper the side of the Nightmare. 

Gaining courage I drew my hands up, gathering the surrounding snow and hardening it into ice. I flung my hands apart, shattering the ice into shards, then flung them forward at the Nightmare. 

Black sand scattered the area like blood, but still it wouldn't go down. 

Jack had flung himself into the air and was now flying down feet first, his staff out in front of him. It hit the Nightmare in the back and scythed through the sandy back of the creature. It let out one last whinny as it was cleaved in half, then collapsed into black sand, which was carried off by the wind. 

Jack and I looked at each other with worried eyes, words not needed. If those whinnies had reached the base below us, we could be in trouble. 

We kept walked and approached the hole. It was wide enough for several people to fit down, and there wasn't any operating equipment. This was where we needed to be. 

It went into the earth rather than ice and seemed to go far down, to the point where I couldn't see the other end. 

Jack and I looked at each other. "Let's go." We said at the same time. 

Jack flew down the hole while I sent an ice bridge down and began skating, following the glow from Jack's staff in the near darkness. 

At the bottom the tunnel seemed to curve so that it came out level to the floor of the cavern and as we reached the bottom Jack came to sudden halt. I skidded to a stop behind him sending ice all over him. He didn't seem to notice as he sat in the air, looking into the cavern. 

I looked over his shoulder and felt a little ill. 

There were around a hundred people of various ages tied up and in sand cages.  
Most of them were hanging from the ceiling; I'm guessing they were the ones that could control earth and plants. Only a handful were in cages on the ground and from here I could see that one of them held Billy. My heart seemed to clench as I saw him there, looking so tired and defeated. 

Most worrying were their jailers, there were roughly fifty of them milling around, a couple on the ground, guarding the grounded prisoners, but most were sitting on sand seats high above the ground. It wasn't silent, but there wasn't exactly much talking going on. 

The ones on the ground seemed to be more wary then the ones above. I suddenly heard a bark of laughter from one of them, who continued talking none too quietly. 

"Seriously? It probably just noticed a Leopard Seal or something. There's no way that one Descendant is going to try to take on all of us! How would they know that we were here anyway?" 

Jack and I looked at each other, mirroring each other with the relief on our faces. They still weren't expecting us, we still had the advantage. 

"And you're just going to take that risk?" chided another voice, female this time. "I don't care if it's nothing, I'm still going to have a look." 

Jack and I looked at each in panic as a figure broke away from the main cavern and headed towards us. If she saw us here, it was game over. 

Her red head bobbed over to us, her grey eyes focused entirely on the dark exit that we were currently hiding in. 

Jack and I pressed ourselves against the wall as she passed us. She didn't appear to notice us as she prepared to head up to the surface. If she reached the surface then she'd know that something was wrong, but at this point my mind went blank, I had no idea what to do. 

Jack, on the other hand, did something I didn't expect. 

He lifted his staff upwards, moving silently over to the Descendant of Pitch. Before she knew he was there Jack brought his staff down quickly on her head. There was a crack and I winced as the solid wood made contact with her head. 

She swayed slightly on her feet and started to fall over. Before she could hit the floor I darted forward to catch her, so we wouldn't make any unnecessary noise. 

I lowered her to the floor and sent Jack a disbelieving look. Why did he feel the need to do that? 

To his credit he did look a little ashamed, but looked back at me with steel in his eyes.  
He didn't like it, but felt that it had been necessary. 

I narrowed my eyes to show that I didn't agree, but I was willing to let it drop, we had other matters at hand. 

I turned my gaze back the cavern, pushing my glasses firmly up my nose as I tried to think of a way to proceed. 

The surrounding cavern was a hodge podge of black rocks, which seemed to be a trend with their bases. There were holes in the walls which I imagined led off to other parts of the base, and I hoped that there wasn't anyone we needed to free down them. 

I looked back over at Jack, who motioned that he went left and that I went right. I nodded and we set off. 

I kept the bridge of ice going, melting it behind me as I circled in and up. We managed to get above the cages without them noticing us by sticking to deepest shadows. Looking across the room I could see Jack holding up his fingers. 

He had three, then two, I braced myself as another came down. When he wasn't holding up anymore fingers we flew across the cavern, touching the sand holding the cages to the ceiling. 

The ice made the sand become brittle and the weight made it snap, sending it to the floor, with occupant hopefully unharmed. The ice also spread inside to the occupant, making the bonds break as well. 

As cages fell to the ground the alarm went up and people saw us, and the yelling and blasts of sand began. We went down to just above the cavern floor once we were done, dodging blasts of black sand. 

I'm pretty sure I heard someone yell, "I told you so, you idiot!" 

We zig zagged our way through the cages, covering them in ice and causing the bars to break. As we went the Descendants of Bunnymund became free and fought back, I yelled at them over the sudden din. 

"Head to the Tunnels!" 

One the earthmovers opened a hole in the ground and they dived into it. Jack hovered by the edge of it, keeping the Descendants of Pitch back as I continued to free people. 

Finally they were all out and I headed to the hole, although the Descendants of Pitch didn't want to make it easy for me. 

My ice blades came back into action and I slashed away their attacks as I skated just above them, enough to brush their heads with my ice skates. 

A wall of black sand appeared in front of me and spread lengthways to block me. I tensed my legs and jumped as I got close enough to it, using my power to give me a boost. I soared over the wall and landed on the newly formed ice bridge and continued skating towards the hole. 

I angled the bridge downwards and went into the hole without losing speed, someone was waiting below me and as I passed them the hole closed, plunging the Tunnel into darkness. 

I couldn't see a thing, so I let the ice run in front of me and tell me what was in front of me. I felt a small gust of wind as someone bounded past me, probably the same person who closed the hole. 

Gradually light began to trickle in and after a while I could see where I was going. I reined back the ice so I could just skate on it, no longer needing it to help guide me. 

An opening appeared ahead of me and I shot through it into an underground cavern, but this was different to the black rock of the Descendants of Pitch's cavern, this place was covered in lush green grass and smooth rocks. Flowers were dotted all over the place and there were giant egg shaped rocks with legs scattered around. 

I continued the ice bridge until I could finally put on the brakes, skidding to a halt in midair and sending flakes of ice all over the place. 

Below me a hundred Descendants of Bunnymund cheered and I felt my face flush with embarrassment, feeling very conspicuous up in the air. 

"Jackie!" 

I looked through the crowd to see Billy forcing his way through the crowd to me. From here I could see that he was clearly tired, but that didn't seem to diminish the enormous grin on his face. 

"Billy!" 

I melted the skates and jumped into the crowd, which parted for me. I run up to him and before I could say anything he pulled me into a rib crushing hug. 

"I...can't ...breathe..." I gasped. 

Billy released me, then grasped my shoulders and looked me up and down, ignoring my flinch of pain. 

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" He then pulled me back into a hug, but he was a  
little gentler. 

He let me out and asked, "So how did you escape?" 

"Well, I never actually got caught." 

"How!?" He and few others cried. "You were right in the thick of things!" Cried someone from the crowd. 

"Surprisingly, Penelope came through for me." 

"What! That no good..." Started Billy. 

"Stop, if it wasn't for her you'd still be in there, so be grateful." 

"You know." Said Jack as he floated down, "I had my doubts, but her information was accurate, and they weren't expecting us, so I think she's being honest about this." 

Billy's eyes went wide when he saw Jack, along with everyone nearby, as one they stepped back respectfully as he landed. 

"M-Mr. Frost..." 

"Wow, Bunny was right. You really don't have to call me that." 

"Sorry Mr- I mean Jack." 

We were interrupted as a rumble echoed throughout the place. Jack and I looked around worriedly, while the Descendants of Bunnymund didn't react. 

Another opening appeared right to where the other one had already closed and out of it flew someone else sliding on ice, but they seemed to sliding down it like they were on a sled. 

They shot out into the crowd and they scattered as another six people shot out behind them. 

A few more figures appeared, two were floating in the air, one was clinging to one of the flyers and the final one was Bunnymund. 

"Hey there Bunny!" called Jack as he flew over to join him. 

I made my way through the crowd and walked over to where the others landed, easily guessing who they were.


End file.
